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Investment
In a similar message last year, Mike Hilton, founder of real estate advisory firm and fund manager PMM Partners, told REFIRE: "The increase in value of Phoenix Spree’s portfolio is largely due to the increase in its revaluation at the end of last year. Berlin has been a very strong market for the last two-to-three years and the rental market has been performing very well."
After a year (2013) in which Valad Germany was far more active on the selling side than as a buyer, 2014 is shaping up to be a year in which the tables are reversed, with the fund investor announcing plans to invest up to €350 for its Valad European Diversified Fund, which it launched last year, as well as for other of its fund mandates.
Last year Valad invested only €50m in German property, while selling off assets valued at €170m. Overall the group’s assets under management in Germany are currently about €600m, down from €700m less than a year ago. New lease agreements were signed for over 400,000 sqm, generating annual rental income of €23m from a total of 376 separate transactions. The company bought a small commercial portfolio in Hamburg’s Billbrook district, and was also appointed on two CMBS mandates with 28 retail properties in Berlin and Düsseldorf.
The Valad European Diversified Fund is targeting core-plus and value-added assets aggressively this year. According to Valad’s German boss Andreas Hardt, “We’re looking to invest around €350m this year in Germany. We currently have more than €100m of acquisitions either under offer or exchanged for the Valad European Diversified Fund, and are targeting further acquisitions of offices in the top and second tier cities and nationwide distribution and logistic warehouses.”
The company is also targeting light industrial assets in the biggest cities of Hamburg, Berlin and Munich for its new separate account mandate. “These are likely to be portfolio transactions of greater than €50m, ideally in the €100m to €300m range for selected institutional clients,” added Hardt.
Valad Europe has assets under management of €4bn for its own and third party funds. In Germany its 37-strong team manages €600m of assets with 1.3m sqm and 720 tenants, from its offices in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankurt, Hamburg and Munich.
