Harel Insurance invests $110 million in San Francisco building

[August 27, 2019]   TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israeli insurer Harel Insurance and Finance Group <HARL.TA> said on Tuesday it invested $110 million for a 49% equity interest in an office building in San Francisco's financial district.

The 26-floor building has 400,000 square feet and an occupancy rate of 87%. A significant portion of the building is leased to an international accounting firm, and the remaining areas are mainly leased to technology companies, law firms, accounting firms and service providers.

This is Harel's third office building investment in San Francisco, with the two additional buildings also located in the city's central business district.

Harel is joined in the transaction by a publicly traded U.S. real estate investment trust, with an enterprise value of over $8 billion. Harel did not name the REIT but said the parties have made several joint transactions in the past.

Real estate is a growing investment channel for Harel, as it seeks investments with relatively stable, realistic returns not directly linked to capital market indices, it said.

(Reporting by Tova Cohen, Editing by Ari Rabinovitch)

[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.