History
130 years of ambition
Founded in 1889 by Gustave Eiffel to build the most famous tower, Société de la Tour Eiffel today still embodies the values of precision and boldness of its extraordinary founder. Discover a history of more than 130 years, marked by many highlights.
- A long-term Company
- The first new French SIIC (Real Estate Investment Trust)
Major dates
The birth of Gustave Eiffel, French engineer, designer of impressive works such as the Viaduc de Garabit in the Cantal, the framework of the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower.
Gustave Eiffel created the Company to finance, build and operate the Eiffel Tower. A true technical feat, the Iron Lady is today the symbol of France and the most visited paying monument in the world. It is characterized by its boldness and modernism.
The city of Paris takes over the management of the monument at the end of the concession, 90 years after its construction.
Led by Mark Inch and Robert Waterland, the Company becomes the 1st new REIT on the Paris Stock Exchange with €227 million in assets.
The Company acquires Locafimo, a real estate company valued at €285 million for a total of 300,000 m2. In 2006, it moved to continuous listing on the Eurolist B sub-fund of Euronext Paris and is included in the EPRA (European Public Real Estate Association) index.
2007-2008
Société de la Tour Eiffel acquires Parcoval for €110 million and thus strengthens its business parks, bringing the portfolio to €1.2 billion in commitments. At the same time, it designs and creates certified office buildings. In 2007, it also created its own Company Foundation to undertake projects that honour Gustave Eiffel’s spirit and his passion for innovation.
In these years, it delivers certified buildings designed in 2007-2008: Domino Porte des Lilas – (75) Vélizy (78) Massy Ampère (91), representing 42,000 m2 in total. After a stabilisation phase, the Company enters a phase of disposal of the portfolio due to an unfavourable economic climate.
With nearly a billion euros in office assets, Société de la Tour Eiffel becomes one of the leading French listed property companies and publishes its first CSR report. After reappointing the Board of Directors in 2011, the Company’s two executives passed the baton to Renaud Haberkorn, who became Chief Executive Officer.
Société de la Tour Eiffel implements a new strategic plan to refocus its business on Paris office real estate, reducing its debt and implementing a disposal plan.
The Company is the subject of a takeover bid by SMABTP. Its assets are then €680 million. The composition of the Board of Directors is fully renewed by the new shareholders. Hubert Rodarie is appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors and Philippe Lemoine, Chief Executive Officer, on 16 October 2014. The Company adheres to the 10 principles of the United Nations Global Compact.
The Company carries out a capital increase of €180 million in order to open up its capital to other institutional investors. It repays all of its mortgage loans and pursues its investment policy with the acquisition in 2015 of three buildings located in the Paris region (78 and 92).
2016
The Company continues its investments and increases the value of its assets at the end of 2016 to €1.13 billion, from 400,000 m2 to 500,000 m2. A capital increase of €140 million subscribed in December 2016 by the Company’s main shareholders enabled it to maintain its debt and equity balance targets.
The Company acquires assets located in service sector hubs within Greater Paris and develops its business parks. The value of its assets amounted to €1.169 billion at the end of 2017, with a surface area of nearly 500,000 m2.
The Company continues its growth strategy based on developing its real estate reserves and external growth with the takeover of Affine RE on 18 December 2018. The value of Société de la Tour Eiffel’s assets represented post-merger €1.7 billion at the end of 2018, with a floor area of nearly 728,000 m2. This takeover places it in 5th place in French REITs with a majority of offices.
Thomas Georgeon is appointed Chief Executive Officer as of 28 September 2018 to succeed Philippe Lemoine. Bruno Meyer becomes Deputy Chief Executive Officer on this same date.
The Company continues its dynamic growth policy with €39 million in acquisitions to strengthen the Parks and create the real estate reserve and €173 million in development in 2019 to fuel future revenue growth.
A disposal plan is launched to achieve the strategic objective of 100% office assets and a geographical distribution 80% Greater Paris / 20% Regions with potential.
Ex-Affine debt is refinanced and an additional €100 million credit line is obtained to finance developments in an optimised financial structure.
Due to the health crisis linked to the Covid-19 epidemic, Société de la Tour Eiffel rapidly encourages reflections to adapt to the context and implement tools to simplify the staggering and monitoring of rent recovery, measure the resilience of its rental portfolio and ensure the continuity of life and security of buildings that are sometimes empty due to the context.
Governance also changes with the arrival of a new Chairman, Didier Ridoret, the renewal of some of the directors and the creation of an Investment Committee.
At the same time, the disposal plan and strategic refocusing continues, as do discussions around the Greater Paris region and the Group’s positioning.
For the first time, the Company obtains the highest score in the GRESB ranking and is included in the Gaïa index.
2021
In 2021, Société de la Tour Eiffel finalised the merger which took place end 2018 by notably achieving the disposal plan launched in 2019. The company’s property portfolio amounts to €1.8bn, comprising close to 600,000 m². The rental activity remained sustained (€16m of leases signed or renewed) despite a difficult economic context. The company has pursued its strategic, commercial, and operational measures to limit the impact of the health crisis. In November, Christel Zordan takes her position as Chief Executive Officer, having notably for mission to define and implement a new roadmap for the company, supported by Bruno Meyer, renewed in his position as Deputy Chief Executive Officer.
Our identity
Our assets