CapitalBay tops €3.5bn, opens overseas offices

Growth at Berlin-based CapitalBay continues at a fairly breakneck speed. The alternative investment manager boosted its assets under management last year by €1.25bn to €3.5bn, while doubling its staff to 170.

The company, founded by CEO George Salden in 2016, completed transactions worth €765m last year, of which the largest single deal was the purchase of 756 residential units in Hanover for more than €100m for its open-ended Spezialfonds CB Wohnimmobilien Deutschland. It plans several further open-ended AIFs to cater for its institutional investors across its key micro-living, senior living, retail, office and project development asset categories.

In September last year the company swept into the micro- and temporary living segment with its CB Micro Living GmbH division, hiring away the entire top management team from early student housing innovator YOUNIQ Service GmbH. CapitalBay CEO George Salden said at the time, “This will allow us to dive into the micro-living segment, and quickly grow. There’s enormously high demand for this product. Investments in micro living are increasingly becoming an integral part of the overall asset allocation for institutional investors. We have to be prepared for this as a cross-usage type investment manager.”

The company has since opened new offices in Europe, Asia and the Middle East to gather international capital and broaden its investor base.