Peakside Capital secures investment for second European fund

Swiss-based private equity real estate company Peakside Capital has raised €140m for its second European value-add and opportunistic fund. The fund will focus on commercial real estate in Germany for the Real Estate Fund II (PREFF II) vehicle. The final close will give the fund €400m to invest in value-add and opportunistic assets, either directly or in co-investments.

According to Stefan Aumann, managing partner and head of asset management at Peakside, the fund’s focus is on identifying investments that display a “clear opportunity to create value for investors” and produce attractive returns."

The Zug-based company has bought a 34,600 sqm mixed-use asset in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg district, its third for the fund and first in the German capital. Located beside the S-Bahn and the bus station, and providing office, retail and leisure space to a variety of occupiers, the property is currently 93% let. Peakside said it will upgrade and reposition the retail element of the asset through active asset management, thus capitalising on its central location.

PREF II has also profitably sold two assets, in Mainzer Landstrasse in Frankfurt and the Post-Palais in Arnulfstrasse, Munich.

Last month Peakside created a German residential property 50-50 joint venture with GRP Capital. Peakside GRP Capital will concentrate on " targeting markets driven by a substantial qualitative or quantitative surplus of demand", according to the new firm's mission statement. It will advise national and international investors, as well as family offices, on investing in defensive, higher-yielding assets. German residential assets and portfolios are the partnership’s first target, the firm said.

Peakside, which was set up in 2010, has €1.4bn of assets under management and is active in the UK, Germany, Italy, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. GRP was set up only this summer by Peter Willisch and Matthias Franke, both previously responsible for fund management at German listed property group Patrizia Immobilien AG.