Catalyst Capital buys Project 10 portfolio from shrinking TRIUVA
The UK-based real estate investment and asset management firm Catalyst Capital has emerged as the buyer of a portfolio of properties in Germany, the Project 10 portfolio from German firm TRIUVA, the institutional funds division of restructured former listed IVG Immobilien AG, and a large German public sector pension fund.
Catalyst is paying about €200m in an asset deal for the portfolio, which consists of 10 properties totaling 93,000 sqm. The deal is being financed with a €120m loan from pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank.
The ten assets are mainly offices, with a sprinkling of retail and residential space, in Stuttgart, Köln, Düsseldorf, München, Frankfurt, Bielefeld, Recklinghausen, Dortmund, Bremen und Essen. Office tenants include Bosch, BMW and Continental, while retail tenants include Görtz and Goldbeck.
According to Kean Hird, partner at Catalyst Capital, "We are pleased to have secured this high-quality portfolio of 10 properties for our new European fund. We continue to seek similar office and retail assets in Germany, where we can further apply the asset management skills of our German team to add value."
Manuel DeVigili, head of investment management at TRIUVA said, “After various portfolio transactions in recent months, we are delighted to have again successfully placed an attractive product on the market,”
The portfolio will be allocated to Catalyst Capital's CEPF II fund, which had its first closing in June, and is targeting €1.25bn of investments. Already Catalyst says it has bought around €650m of assets for the fund, including two portfolios in the UK and France – the Regatta and Eve portfolios, with 34 UK properties and three high-quality office properties in Paris business districts.
The investors in CEPF II are a mix of US and European pension funds, US endowments, funds of funds, family offices and wealth management firms, including investors from Catalyst’s first European real estate fund, Catalyst European Property Fund I (CEPF I).
Julian Newiss, founding partner at Catalyst, said at the time of the fund's launch a year ago that the current environment is providing a prime opportunity to generate strong returns. “The volume of European distressed property loan sales coming onto the market has never been higher and is set to continue as a result of the European Central Bank’s Asset Quality Review,” he said.
The CEPF II fund is focused on the office and retail sectors and, geographically, in the countries in Europe where Catalyst already has an established presence - the UK, France, Belgium, Germany and Poland. It is targeting both a diversified portfolio of income-producing assets as well as development and refurbishment opportunities, says the firm.