The ten-year old Zurich-based Sihlcity shopping mall and office complex is now fully owned by Credit Suisse. A strategic real estate swap is behind the move.

Two property funds at Credit Suisse's asset management arm have acquired the remaining stake in Sihlcity, with immediate effect, the Swiss bank said in a statement on Tuesday.

The transaction follows a property swap between Credit Suisse and the real estate investment company Swiss Prime Site Immobilien. The latter has transferred its remaining 25 percent stake in Sihlcity to Credit Suisse, it said. In exchange, Swiss Prime Site Immobilien will obtain full ownership of several properties in the Zurich area.

Offloading Property

The move follows the sale of several big properties by Credit Suisse in Zurich, including its Uetlihof site a stone's throw from the Sihlcity complex (sold to Norway's sovereign wealth fund Norges six years ago to bolster the bank's capital).

Credit Suisse also sold the neo-baroque Metropol to Switzerland's central bank, the Griederhaus, a shopping center across from its Paradeplatz headquarters, to watchmaker Swatch and the Leuenhof, an 1915 art nouveau building in Zurich's prestigious Bahnhofstrasse thoroughfare, to an investment fund (Pictet will move into the Leuenhof in 2020).