Sale of Deka's Stella portfolio said to be imminent

Deka Immobilien, the property fund subsidiary of the German Sparkassen (savings banks), is reported in Frankfurt to be readying its 'Stella' property portfolio for sale. The portfolio could be expected to fetch around €800m with the sale thought likely to go through this month (November).

Market insiders say the portfolio is made up of 34 office properties with 334,000 sqm of lettable space, mainly located in Germany's big cities of Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne. The portfolio has an occupancey rate of 83% and is thought to generate an annual rent roll of €37m.

Among those being mentioned as possible buyers of the Stella portfolio is France's Amundi Immobilie, which hit the headlines a couple of months back when it emerged as the buyer of Union Investment's €1bn 'Aqua' pan-European office portfolio, in what is one of the biggest portfolio transactions of the year. Amundi is one of Europe’s largest asset managers, with total assets under management of €850bn, around €11bn of which is invested in real estate.

Deka Immobilien has been a heavy seller so far this year, raising €800m over the first nine months from disposals. It has also been an active buyer, investing €1.8bn as part of its goal to reach €3bn in transactions for the year. Of new acquisitions, €700m was invested in a single transaction – a portfolio of 51 high street properties throughout Germany, bought from Dutch group D&R Invest in an unusual deal that waas part of a larger Dutch institutional transaction.

As we reported in REFIRE at the time, that deal was rather seen as a one-off because of the fragmented nature of the portfolio. The 51 inner-city retail properties are located in 37 mainly A and B cities and are almost fully let. The buildings are located in prime locations within pedestrian areas in cities such as Cologne, Hannover, Regensburg, Kiel or Lüneburg. The total lettable area is137,000 sqm. The main tenants are well-known fashion chains.

"The deal provides us with a rare market opportunity and enables us to further expand our institutional business," said Torsten Knapmeyer, managing director of Deka Immobilien, at the time. "We are reacting to the strong level of demand from institutional investors for real estate investments."