GPEP expands Netto portfolio with €30m, 17-store deal

The Frankfurt-based opportunistic asset manager GPEP and its partner Universal-Investment have added to the portfolio of twelve Netto discount supermarkets which they originally bought in March for a Universal Spezialfonds. They have bought a further 17 Netto stores and an Edeka store for a price thought to be around €30m.

14 of the Netto stores and the Edeka store were sold by Edeka marketing subsidiary Marktkauf, each with a 15-year lease duration, and which had been renovated and refurbished by Edeka's CEV division, including adding such improvements as a bakery store-in-a-store and additional parking. The total lettable space is 20,360 sqm. Most of the stores are located in Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Saxony.

The selling agent acting for the Edeka group was JenAcon GmbH, as in the earlier March transaction.

GPEP also bought three further Netto stores in Berlin, Halle and Arnstorf, with a total of 3,200 sqm, and of which the Berlin and Halle stores were sold by developer Hoepfner BauInvest Plus, a subsidiary of the Karlsruhe-based brewer Hoepfner. The Netto store in Arnstorf was sold by Morris Immobilien.

The Spezialfonds is set up and managed by Universal for an occupational pension fund, and focuses on downtown office and retail properties. Universal handle the funds structure and administration, while GPEP looks after the portfolio, property and asset management.