Boost to Barings core strategy with dual German acquisitions
Barings Real Estate Advisers, part of the global real estate investment manager Barings, bought a portfolio of five mixed-use buildings in Germany on behalf of an unnamed international investor from a fund run by pan-European real estate investor Kildare Partners for more than €100m. Later in the month it invested a further €45m to buy a fully-let mixed-use property in Mannheim.
The so-called 'Kettcar Portfolio' comprises five mixed-use office and retail buildings, three of which are in Düsseldorf and one each in Hanover and Munich.
Constructed between 1984 and 2002, the properties provide a total lettable area of around 78,000 sqm, including 63,000 sqm of office space and around 5,800 sqm of retail accommodation. The remainder is residential, café/restaurant and service space. Overall, the portfolio is currently 91% let.
According to Sascha Becker, head of Barings Real Estate Advisers' Frankfurt office,
"The assets in the 'Kettcar' portfolio are core-plus. Our objective is to apply active and innovative asset management in order to exploit the hidden potential for increased value. This includes both optimising the letting situation and managing works to modernise the buildings and benefit from the associated cost reduction."
Kildare Partners was advised on the sale by Curzon Advisers GmbH, which manages its property portfolio in Germany and Sweden.
As part of Barings' core investment strategy in Europe, which saw Barings raise more than €500m for its pan-European core open-ended property fund in March of this year, Barings also paid €45m to an open-ended Spezialfonds for a fully-let mixed use property in Mannheim.
The downtown building has a total leasable area of 14,500 sqm containing 9,000sqm of retail and dedicated storage and 5,500 sqm of office space across seven floors, as well as two underground floors with 138 parking spaces. It has a direct connection to Mannheim's main shopping street Planken via a gallery, and is anchored by retail tenant Saturn.
Gunther Deutsch, head of transactions Europe at Barings Real Estate Advisers, said: “Mannheim is a market with favourable dynamics due to a lack of high quality office and retail space."