Olivier Piani, global head of Allianz Real Estate, told the Expertise Pierre magazine in mid-2009 that the group intends to be very active on the French investment market. Overall, Allianz intends to boost its property holdings to around €30bn in value by 2013 from some €18 billion at present. Piani said that the group, at 3% of assets, was underexposed to property and intended to double this proportion over the next few years.

The Budapest deal encompassed acquisition of a 50% share in the Allee mall, with ING retaining the remaining 50% ownership, plus center management. Allee, opened in November, has all retail units fully leased and offers 47,000 square meters of retail space and 7,000 square meters of office space in Budapest's fast growing 11th district in the Buda quarter.

The Munich asset is located in the Maxvorstadt district and comprises 11 houses built between 1900 and 1996, all refurbished to modern standards, and encompassing in total 39,000 square meters of GLA. "We are very pleased with this acquisition just before the end of 2009," said Stefan Brendgen, CEO of Allianz Real Estate Germany. "With our current investment strategy we are focusing on attractive, large volume real estate in the best locations of European cities," added Brendgen.