German property company Hamborner has applied for conversion to REIT status with effect from 1 January 2010. The company expects the change in status to be entered in the German Commercial Register in a couple of weeks, after which the company will change its name to Hamborner REIT. If approved, Hamborner will become the third Real Estate Investment Trust in Germany, after Hamburg's Alstria Office and Munich's Fair Value, both of which acquired REIT status in 2007. The majority of the company's shareholders approved the conversion to REIT status in June 2009.

Additionally, Duisburg-based Hamborner said that it has acquired the Atrium commercial property in Erlangen with 7,300 m2 of lettable office space from project developer Sontowski & Partner and savings bank Sparkasse Erlangen for EUR 18 mln.

The asset is fully leased with long-term lease agreements to a number of tenants including nuclear technology group Areva-Gruppe. The deal reflects an initial yield of 7.3%.