ActivumSG buys out remaining stake in developer Instone

The Jersey-based private equity fund manager ActivumSG has bought up the remaining shares in German residential real estate developer Instone Real Estate to become the sole owner of the group, following Instone founder and shareholder Steffen Göpel's decision to sell his remaining stake.

ActivumSG, headed by founder and ex-Cerberus top manager Saul Goldstein, bought a majority stake in Instone in December 2015, when the company was known as GRK Holding. It later merged with residential developer Formart to become Instone Real Estate Group.

Instone, with nearly 240 employees in seven offices across Germany, has been planning, building and marketing more than 1,000 residential units annually for owner-occupiers, for private buy-to-let, and for institutional investors, focusing on Germany's key metropolitan regions. Its project pipeline is currently valued at more than €3bn.

The full takeover of Instone by Activum is expected to close in November this year. Of the takeover and future prospects, CEO Saul Goldstein commented, “We are very grateful to Steffen for his tremendous efforts in developing GRK to a leading real estate player in the Leipzig market and for trusting us as an investor. GRK, with its know-how, excellent process-management as well as its local orientation has been an ideal addition to our portfolio.

"Now that GRK and formart were brought together under the umbrella of Instone Real Estate, we've established a leading nationwide operating real estate developer platform with strong and profitable growth prospects into the future.”