Cording sells two residential portfolios to fast-growing Domicil
In one of the biggest deals of the past few months, Anglo-German real estate investment and asset management firm Cording Real Estate Group, has sold two residential portfolios in Germany to the Munich-based Domicil Real Estate Group, in a share deal following a bidding process.
The portfolios include around 1,800 residential and commercial units across 60 separate properties, for which Cording had taken over management control in the 2nd quarter of 2016.
The larger of the two portfolios comprises 1,230 residential units in Dusseldorf, Munich, Essen, Bocholt, Bremen and Bielefeld, as well as in the Rhine-Neckar region and locations in Baden-Wurttemberg. It includes 44 properties, mainly dating from the 1990s, providing a total of almost 88,600 sq m of residential accommodation. The assets are 97% let. The portfolio also includes 39 commercial units, with a total lettable area of around 8,200 sqm.
The second residential package comprises 470 units, situated in Hamburg, Berlin, Gelsenkirchen, Wuppertal and in eastern Westphalia. The 16 properties have a total lettable area of around 46,500 sq m. They were mainly constructed in the 1990s, although some date from the 1950s. These units are around 99% let. The portfolio is complemented by three commercial units, with a total lettable area of just under 1,100 sqm.
Domicil reported that many of the assets are shortly before the expiry of lease agreements and subsquently the artificially low rents have big upside potential, while several assets are ripe for repositioning. Residential assets will be upgraded and re-let, or in some case offered to the market as upgraded block sales, it said.
As we reported in the middle of last year, Cording has been flexing its muscles as it expands its range of activities, following a reshuffling of its management team. The moves included promoting Rodney Bysh to CEO of its group business, and Will Amies to deputy CEO.
Bysh had been looking after the German and the Dutch subsidiaries, and he told REFIRE at the time that Cording plans to further intensify its business with segregated accounts and club deals for third party investors. Cording manages 249 assets valued at more than €2.7bn in its key markets of the UK, Germany, Scandinavia and Benelux, with 88 staff operating from eight offices.