Shore Capital’s Brandenburg Realty fund in €135m first close

The AIM-listed investment group Shore Capital said it had raised €135m in a first close for its Brandenburg Realty German residential fund, and said it expects to make a further close within three months, bringing maximum commitments up to €250m.

The move marks a return to prominence for the group’s Puma Brandenburg subsidiary after it became a sizeable investor in Berlin residential in 2006-7. Puma Brandenburg is making a co-investment commitment of up to €12.5m in this first close, with the bulk of the capital coming from institutional investors and family offices in the US.

Shore Capital’s vehicles have previously bought and managed a German real estate portfolio including 3,000 Berlin apartments along with commercial properties such as the 306-room five-star Hyatt Hotel in Cologne and 45 out-of-town retail units let to discount retailer Lidl in locations throughout Germany. Chairman and founder Howard Shore said the new Brandenburg Realty fund was targeting well-located, high-quality residential buildings in major German cities, with a focus on Berlin, “to exploit the sector’s strong growth potential in Europe’s largest economy”.