J. Safra Sarasin has bought a landmark building in Geneva’s banking mile and is said to have paid handsomely for the modernist building. The Swiss-Brazilian bank will be but the latest in a string of banks to have had its offices at this address.
The citizens of Geneva call it «Le Cube», the property at 4 rue de la Corraterie, in the very heart of the city of Calvin. The name is apt given the design of the prestigious building, which looks as if a giant cube had dropped onto the banking mile of Geneva.
The glass building, renovated at the height of the financial crisis, has a new owner, having been sold for an estimated 80 million Swiss francs, according to a report in «Bilan» magazine.
Home- and Flex-Office at BNP
The new owners are J. Safra Sarasin, the private bank, which bought the office block from BNP Paribas. The French had acquired the property in 2004 from Banque Cantonale de Genève.
BNP Paribas is said to no longer need the prestige property as it has introduced home- and flex-office-solutions for its staff in Switzerland. It has now three offices left in Geneva, at place de Hollande, boulevard de la Tour and rue de l’Ecole-de-Chimie.
Handsome Profit
The French bank seems to have made a nice profit from the sale, given it once had paid 34.5 million francs for the building.
J. Safra Sarasin wants to use the offices itself. The bank has made itself a name as a consolidator among Swiss private banks. After the acquisition of Bank Sarasin in 2013, the combined firm bought the Swiss bank of Morgan Stanley only one year later. The acquisition of «Le Cube» may be a sign of more to come.
