25 years – celebrating solid grounds

We are proud of our success to date. At the same time, we look forward to further strengthening our sustainability efforts in the coming years and continuing to create tangible added value for our stakeholders. By focussing on the two pillars of «Real Estate» and «Asset Management», we are future-oriented and are therefore optimistic about the coming years. Following a transformative phase, we are now focussing even more on fully exploiting the potential in our own portfolio and in the asset management area and can build on the solid foundations of recent years.

About us

The Real Estate Asset Managers

After strong organic growth in the first few years, we were able to take advantage of the consolidation trend from 2022 and further strengthen our market position and our 360° centre of excellence through strategic acquisitions: In a first step, we acquired the Akara Group in 2021; the second step followed in 2024 with the acquisition of the property division of Fundamenta Group Switzerland and Germany. 

Today, our portfolio managed by Swiss Prime Site Solutions is characterised by a diversified investment allocation with a particular focus on residential properties. It comprises over 20 investment vehicles with properties and projects throughout Switzerland and selectively in Germany, and now has an investment volume of around CHF 12.5 billion. Our broad range of products and services appeals to a variety of investors with a wide range of needs. In addition to pension funds and institutional investors, we can increasingly count on family offices and qualified private investors as external capital providers.

SWISS PRIME SITE SOLUTIONS
FUNDAMENTA

Strengthening and focussing the Real Estate business area

Our property projects are not only economically successful, but also set standards in the area of «ESG». This underlines our commitment to a sustainable future and demonstrates our conviction that long-term economic success is closely linked to this. Accordingly, we have been working on the sustainable certification of our portfolio for some time. By the end of 2023, around 95% of all areas had already been certified and we will reach 100% in our anniversary year.

We want to be a leader in the development of new buildings and sites. Since 2021, we have primarily aimed for self-financed growth: we are consolidating our portfolio, which has grown considerably over the past 25 years, and selling properties that no longer fit our strategy - we reinvest the proceeds in our development projects. This approach enables us to constantly update and improve our portfolio. We also call it «capital recycling».

We can create added value for our local stakeholders and investors through continuous new development projects that are tailored to the respective market. As a result, our portfolio is always up to date and is characterised by very high building quality. Major development projects that have subsequently been added to our portfolio include YOND and JED in Schlieren near Zurich, Alto Pont-Rouge in Geneva and Stücki Park in Basel.

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WWW.ALTO-PONT-ROUGE.CH
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WWW.STUECKIPARK.CH

Corporate Engagement, Ventures & Innovation

As part of our business activities, Swiss Prime Site contributes to economic and social development in many ways. We are committed to the education of young people and our employees, and we support social and cultural organisations and projects through various sponsorships. We support organisations such as Young Enterprises Switzerland (YES), SOS Children's Villages, NZZ Real Estate Days, Avenir Suisse, Swiss Sports Aid and the Athletes Network.

Corporate Engagements

Since 2018, Swiss Prime Site has been working with young companies from Switzerland and abroad as part of its own Startup Accelerator Programme. This regularly results in long-term collaborations, prototypes and new products, as well as extensive PoC studies, customer partnerships and strategic investments. Thanks to our workshops, which take place several times a year, we have already examined more than 1000 start-ups and invited over 100 to participate in our programme.

Accelerator Programme

Prime Tower goes Metaverse! With a height of 126 metres and 36 floors, it is one of the tallest office buildings in Switzerland. Prime Tower is now entering new spheres and can also be found in the Metaverse since 2023. It covers Swiss Prime Site's entire value chain digitally - from acquisition, project planning and construction to marketing and letting.

Meta Prime Tower

We create sustainable living spaces

Our progress in the area of sustainability since the early 2010s shows that we take our role model function as a large property company seriously. Sustainability has been an integral part of our business and value creation model for some time and plays a central role in our strategy. By integrating sustainability practices into our business processes, we increase the longevity of our buildings and create long-term added value for our stakeholders and society.

Since the end of the last decade, we have formalised our sustainable business practices. Swiss Prime Site is rated by the world's leading independent rating providers. GRESB, for example, measures and evaluates the sustainability performance of property companies. In the assessment, we are among the international leaders with excellent results.

The establishment of a green finance framework helped us to manage our financial resources in a way that is both economically and ecologically sustainable. In addition, we launched the Carbon Reduction Pathway, an ambitious project that aims to significantly reduce our carbon footprint and achieve net zero in the portfolio by 2040. Another important success was our inclusion in the SIX index of sustainable Swiss companies.

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Foundation of Swiss Prime Site Solutions AG

Swiss Prime Site Solutions was founded in 2017, thereby establishing our second strategic pillar: asset management. In this area, we have specialised in the management of third-party real estate assets and offer a diverse universe of investment vehicles. This includes various open and closed-end fund solutions with differentiated investment strategies, investment foundations for pension funds, public limited property companies and a wide range of mandates for investors. Our first mandate was the Swiss Prime Investment Foundation, which we successfully built up to over CHF 4 billion AuM. Another important milestone was reached in 2021: Since then, we at Swiss Prime Site Solutions have been the proud holder of the FINMA fund management licence, which further underlines our expertise and reliability in the industry. At the same time, we launched our first contractual investment fund, the SPSS Investment Fund Commercial.

SWISS PRIME SITE SOLUTIONS

Expansion of business model and range of services

The following years were characterised by both organic and inorganic growth: 
In 2012, we were able to expand our own property management business by acquiring the property service provider Wincasa. Thanks to this integration, we were able to offer services along the entire value chain and the life cycle of a property.

One year later, in 2013, we expanded our portfolio to include the ‘Senior Living’ segment. This was made possible by the integration of Tertianum, the Swiss specialist for assisted living centres.

Despite the sale of both companies in 2020 (Tertianum) and 2023 (Wincasa), both remain closely linked to us to this day: Wincasa remains our largest property management partner, while Tertianum is one of our most important tenants. We are grateful for the long-standing partnerships that we have been able to build up with valuable customers and partners.

WINCASA
TERTIANUM

Inauguration of the Prime Tower

Another architectural flagship project was inaugurated in 2011: the Prime Tower. Today – 15 years after its construction – the iconic tower is still one of the tallest buildings in Switzerland and characterises the skyline of the city of Zurich and far beyond.

Swiss Prime Site received the building permit for the new Zurich-West landmark in 2006. The ground-breaking ceremony for the high-rise building designed by Swiss architects Gigon/Guyer took place in November 2008, with an additional office property, the «Platform», being constructed during the same period. The overall project included the «Cubus» and «Diagonal» buildings, two further properties. The Cubus is a new building, while the Diagonal was created by converting an industrial building, the industrial character of which has been largely retained.

PRIME TOWER

Years of growth

Key strategic acquisitions and developments have continuously expanded our company history. For example, the takeover of Maag Holding (2004), which led to the development of the Maag site in Zurich West. The acquisition of Jelmoli in 2009 also brought many attractive properties into our property portfolio.

Maag Holding emerged from the historic Maag Zahnräder AG, a Swiss industrial company specialising in gear manufacturing. The production companies of Maag Holding were sold by 1997 and Maag Zahnräder was transformed into a property company, which was merged into Swiss Prime Site in 2004.

The year 2009 was characterised by the merger with the Jelmoli Group. The integration of the Jelmoli Group strengthened Swiss Prime Site in various aspects. With the approximately 120 Jelmoli properties, the total property portfolio increased from CHF 3.8 billion to CHF 8.1 billion, while the diversification of the property portfolio in terms of use, tenants and economic regions throughout Switzerland was sustainably improved.

Founding and initial milestones

Since its foundation on 11 May 1999, Swiss Prime Site has undergone a remarkable evolution that has made us a leading player in the real estate industry. Our commitment goes beyond the mere creation of buildings - it is about the people who live, work and spend their leisure time in them. 

Following its listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange in 2000, Swiss Prime Site acquired an extensive property portfolio from Swisscom in and successfully completed its first project development with the Cityport in Zurich Oerlikon. 

The inauguration of the Messeturm Basel in 2003 was an early example of our visionary thinking and a signpost for the future. At the time, the property was the tallest building in Switzerland at 105 metres. Its unique structure, consisting of a strictly vertical main building and a structure projecting out to the side, which only appears to just overlap with the tower, creates the optical illusion that the tower is floating.

Messeturm