Omega Immobilien launches first German fund, focus on NRW

The Cologne-based integrated property manager Omega Immobilien has founded its own asset management company, Omega Immobilien KVG, and launching its first alternative real estate fund. The fund is targeting both professional and semi-professional investors, and aims for a volume of €200m and a dividend payout of 4.5-5%.

Leverage will be 50% and the fund period is ten years. The minimum subscription per investor is €10m.

The independent owner-operated Omega currently manages assets worth €2.7bn on behalf of its investors, including facility managment for mainly technically and commercially complex properties in office, retail and residential. It has a staff of 130 at eleven locations across Germany.

REFIRE talked with Martin Herkenrath, Omega's executive director, on the fringes of the recent EXPO REAL in Munich. “Having our own KVG to take care of our investment management projects is a logical step forward for our business strategy“, he said, adding that the funds already had €50m worth of assets in the immediate pipeline.

The geographic focus of the “OMEGA Immobilienfonds Rheinland I” fund will be Cologne, Düsseldorf and Bonn, as well as selected towns surrounding these cities. “We want to invest primarily in mixed-use residential, office and retail properties, but also strictly retail assets, (for example shopping centers) and strictly residential buildings,” said Herkenrath. The fund will promote a niche strategy, buying assets too large for most private investors and too small for most international ones, in the range of €3m-€12m.

Herkenrath indicated that Omega views this fund as the first of many, with the focus of future funds on high demographic growth regions across Germany, as well as single-asset and single-portfolio funds, along with tailor-made funds for individual clients.