Captiva sells German healthcare portfolio to Canadian REIT
A fund managed by independent investor Captiva Capital Management has sold a portfolio of 13 healthcare centres in Leipzig, Berlin and Ingolstadt with a total area of 33,000 sqm to Canadian group NorthWest International Healthcare Properties REIT. The transaction values the portfolio at about €35 million.
Captiva bought the portfolio in 2007, and has invested considerable capex in renovating, enlarging and modernising the assets, eleven of which are in Leipzig, with the remaining two in Berlin and Ingolstadt. This boosted the occupancy rate from 75% to 93% over the period, while raising rental income by 34%.
Captiva said it plans further divestments in the three-digit million euro range this year. Stephan Fritsch, CEO of Captiva in Germany, said “Demand for high-quality commercial and logistics properties remains high in Germany, where we made anti-cyclical investments during the years of the financial crisis. Through structured and sustainable measures to increase the value of the properties, today we manage a real estate portfolio of around 700,000 sqm of lettable space in Germany worth more than €700 million.”
Last year Captiva concluded 61 new rental contracts and contract renewals for about 83,000 sqm in Captiva’s portfolio, which it said helped to further optimize the tenant mix. So far this year 40 new contracts and renewals have been signed for about 50,000 sqm.
Fritsch said he plans further divestments in Germany this year and is in negotiations on a portfolio sale in the three-digit million euro range. “A focus will be on retail and logistics,” he said. But Captiva is also looking for selective investment opportunities in Germany, as well as being a seller. “Even though some market segments have reached very aggressive pricing levels, there are still opportunities for good investments,” he said. “We still see potential in small and mid-sized cities in Germany.”
The low-key Captiva mainly invests its capital on behalf of clients through closed-end funds or specialized platforms. It typically looks for assets with improvement potential after a certain injection of investment. One of the group’s largest German projects to date was the launch of Alstria Office REIT in 2007, German’a first REIT. To date, Captiva has invested €1.7 billion of equity capital in the real estate sector including over 1,700 properties across Europe worth more than €11.1 billion.