Pramerica has acquired an office building at 28 West 44th Street in New York for $161 mln (EUR 113 mln). The purchase was made on behalf of a US real estate fund managed by the group's TMW Pramerica German property arm.

The deal is the first US acquisition by the real estate investment management arm of Prudential Financial since the onset of the financial crisis four years ago.

The 22-storey Class B property offers 33,500 m2 of space in the vicinity of the Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Station and Times Square.

Pramerica has a long history in the American property market, having made a number of large acquisitions including trophy assets such as the Chrysler Building and the Lipstick Building. In 2007, the fund manager completed the sale of its entire US portfolio just before the crisis hit the market and has since watched the market.

'We currently see an opportunity, for the first time, in re-entering the market,' said Georg von Werz, CEO of Pramerica Real Estate International. The company will no longer focus on trophy assets, he added, but will concentrate on Class B buildings where it can add value through repositioning.