Cording raises German money to invest in UK residential fund

Northern European real estate investment and asset management company Cording Real Estate Group plans to invest £400m (€449m) in UK housing after raising £100m from German institutional investors.

The investment manager has launched the Cording UK Residential Investment Fund and says it hopes to raise an additional £150m of equity from continental European institutional investors. It will use debt to enable it to invest £400m in the UK’s private-rented sector (PRS) over the next four years. The open-ended SICAV fund is domiciled in Luxembourg.

The fund is designed to hold a diversified portfolio of assets over the long term, generating a net income return of more than 5% per annum. It can enter into forward-commitment and forward-funding agreements, and will also have the ability to acquire completed and fully-leased PRS projects.

Cording said it had a strong pipeline of investment opportunities and expects to conclude on the first of two pending deals shortly.

The company said it used “a unique and comprehensive research approach”, focusing on the lower-to-mid end of the market. It has identified a number of regional cities and Greater London locations where demand for rented accommodation is forecast to be persistently strong and where supply will remain constrained.

John Partridge, chairman of Cording, said: “We are delighted with the support shown by our investors towards our PRS team and our vertically-integrated approach, providing in-house development management, portfolio management, asset management, leasing and property management.”