Cornerstone provides global real estate investment and advisory services to private investors, family foundations and trusts.

Cornerstone Group was founded in 2008 by H. J. Brun to manage his personal investments in real estate and to provide institutional and private investors with bespoke investment opportunities.

Mr. Brun originally trained as a chartered accountant and holds a degree of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. In 1985 he joined the Marc Rich Group where he went through a trainee program in foreign exchange, equities and fixed income trading. After the program he became assistant to the Group Controller and later joined the real estate department. In 1997 he became head of real estate. From 2007 to 2008 he was CEO of the Marc Rich Group.

Mr. Brun has over twenty years of experience in the property sector. The projects he was involved in encompass a wide spectrum, including hotels, shopping malls, residential and office buildings in numerous countries such as Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Czech Republic and Romania. He currently is on the board of directors of bfw liegenschaften AG, a Swiss stock exchange quoted real estate company.

ACQUISITIONS AND SALES

The key personnel of Cornerstone have been involved in numerous acquisitions and disposal of properties in a variety of jurisdictions. We understand the opportunities but also the pitfalls presented during purchases and sales.

DEVELOPMENT

Cornerstone combines a well-developed instinct for prime and alternative locations with award winning architecture, excellent construction quality, reliability and profitability. It has extensive experience in property development, letting and management in various countries, including the Czech Republic, Spain, Russia, France and Germany.

One of Cornerstone´s key competences is the development of so-called ´brownfields´, such as former industrial properties (factories, harbours, etc.). Work on such projects includes pollution removal, re-zoning, adaptive use concepts, location marketing and branding.

The outstanding efforts invested into its office and hotel projects resulted in the ability to regularly attract prime clients, be it as tenants or be it as investors. Household names such as Danone and Panasonic have rented office space in the award winning buildings. Fully tenanted properties were sold to well known investors such as GE.

LOCATION MARKETING

Cornerstone has developed substantial expertise in location marketing while working on brownfield projects. Such projects are usually located in areas that do not have a good standing. Thus, an area must be made `hip` and desirable to maximise its economic potential. Location marketing increases the velocity of sales and often allows charging a premium over non-branded locations.

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

Cornerstone has extensive experience in property letting and management in various countries. The knowledge accumulated in numerous negotiations with tenants allows us to create win-win situations for both, the tenant as well as the owner. Long-standing experience with facility managers enables us to achieve cost efficient facility management while guaranteeing excellent service to tenants.

TENANTS (selection)

• Automoveis Citroen, SA
• Banco Comercial Português
• Banco Português do Atlântico
• Český Telecom
• Danone
• Deloitte
• Deutsche Börse (Clearstream)
• DHL Systems
• EDS
• Hoechst Schering AgreVo, Lda
• JC Decaux
• Ministry of Education and Sport (CZ)
• Panasonic
• Proximity
• Reader Digest
• Renault Trucks
• Sanofi Winthorp - Produtos Farmaceuticos, Lda
• Schneider Electric
• Veolia Transport
• Vinci Group (SMP, FCC/Prumstav, Vinci Construction)
• Vitra
• Volksbank

INVESTORS (selection)

• Africa Israel CZ (AFI Europe Worldwide)
• Anglo Irish Assurance (a daughter of Anglo Irish Bank Corporate Ltd)
• CEE Property Invest (a daughter of Erste Group Bank AG and Zwerenz & Krause)
• GE Real Estate CZ / Crestyl / ICKM
• HB Reavis
• M.A.I.L. Finanzberatung GmbH (a daughter of Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG, Wien)
• Premium Red CZ (real estate subsidiary of Investkredit / Volksbank Group)

Hans J. Brun

Cornerstone Real Estate AG
Rössligasse 17
6004 Luzern
Switzerland

Phone +41 (41) 525 4433
Mobile +41 (76) 337 6006
E-mail
contact[at]cornerstone-realestate.ch

14/09/2016

Baker McKenzie Real Estate Seminar 2016:
The Zurich office organised another excellent event, this time about cross-border property investments in Germany, France, Italy, the UK, USA and Canada. Baker McKenzie's experts provided condensed and up-to-date insights on crucial regulatory, tax and financing aspects.

30/06/2013

Warsaw:
Cornerstone has decided to withdraw from the Warsaw office tower project due to concerns regarding compliance and architectural design.

06/07/2012

Baker & McKenzie Seminar - Real Estate Transactions in Switzerland:
Ein weiteres, ausgezeichnetes Seminar von B&M, diesmal über Transaktionen in der Schweiz. Trotz der teilweise trockenen Materie war das Seminar dank ausgezeichneten Sprechern keine Minute langweilig. Ein ausführliches, gut strukturiertes Handbuch (260 Seiten) gehörte zu den Seminarunterlagen.

20/02/2012

Warsaw:
Cornerstone has signed a Letter of Intent to enter into a joint venture with a Polish company and a Swiss family office to build a substantial office tower in Warsaw. Cornerstone would act as managing partner, responsible for planning, project management, marketing and eventually the sale of the leased building.

29/12/2011

Madrid:
Torre Picasso is sold to Pontegada Inmobiliaria, a company of Anuncio Ortega, owner of the Inditex Group (Zara). The sales price of € 400 mln is below Cornerstone's valuation of € 414 mln, reflecting the buyers ability to close quickly.
The broker was Aguirre Newman.

24/11/2011

Madrid:
After the withdrawal of the Swiss real estate company, Cornerstone has been mandated by FCC to look for a buyer.

08/11/2011

Madrid:
After the possible sale has been made public in Spanish newspapers, we have been authorized by the owners to disclose that the building reported in our news of 21/09/11 is Torre Picasso. This elegant tower is Madrid's best known office building and features 78'000 m2 LFA on 43 floors.

21/09/2011

Madrid:
Cornerstone has been commissioned by a Zurich based real estate company to prepare a study of the Madrid office market, to value one of the city’s most important and emblematic office towers and to enter into negotiations with the sellers.

15/04/2011

Keystone sale signed:
We have signed the forward sale of Keystone to a vehicle of GLL Real Estate Partners. The exiting shareholders have been retained to manage the construction and letting untill the handover.

17/09/2010

Interest from Investor:
A German Real Estate Fund has made an offer to buy Keystone in a forward transaction.

09/09/2010

Construction of Keystone has reached ground level
At the same time we have pre-let one additional office floor. Various companies, attracted by the visibility and image of Keystone, are showing strong interest for the ground floor show rooms.

18/08/2010

Construction financing obtained: We have signed construction financing with UniCredit. This loan replaces debt contracted with another bank during the financial crisis at less favourable conditions.

30/03/2010

Groundbreaking Ceremony for Keystone: Cornerstone and its partners are celebrating the start of the construction.