ESTAma sells 8-unit retail portfolio for €33m

UK transaction manager ESTAma (UK), a subsidiary of the Berlin-based asset and property manager Estama Gesellschaft für Real Estate Management, said that it had sold a value-add retail portfolio, known as "Octagon" on behalf of British group Edinburgh House Investors to a Berlin investor. The price was put at €33m.

The portfolio consists of seven retail properties and an industrial asset, encompassing four retail parks, a DIY market and production space, with a lettable area of 76,000 sqm. The properties are 72% let, with tenants including retailers such as furniture store Roller, grocer Norma, discounter Aldi, DIY store OBI, and drugstore DM. The assets generate a secure medium term income with a remaining average lease term is 5.5 years, and Chanan Aharonoff, investment manager at ESTAma says there is good upside potential from the remaining available space.

Edinburgh House is selling off the portfolio as part of a disposal strategy, having bought the assets in 2005-2007. The properties are in Angersdorf, Essen, Meiningen, Mülheim a.d. Ruhr (2x), Radebeul, Schwalmtal and Suhl.

According to ESTAma's Christian Bodtke, "The interest shown in the sales process of Portfolio Octagon confirms the high demand for product by foreign and domestic investors in Germany, even in secondary and tertiary locations. The demand for institutional product remains unbroken as the sale of the hybrid mall Flora Park in Magdeburg to Rockspring for ca. €117 million which completed in November 2016 which was also advised by ESTAma recently confirmed. Both sales contributed to a successful result for the year 2016 with transactions closed worth ca. €400 million and allowed us to extend our track record of sales to more than €1 billion in the past 4 years“

ESTAma in Berlin manages about 700 assets throughout Germany, with a value of about €4.5bn and more than 3,000 tenancies. It employs 150 staff and maintains a network of thirteen offices throughout the country. Although acting independently as an asset manager, the company is owned by Edinburgh House Estates in London.