Slate targeting German retail for third supermarket fund

Slate Asset Management, the Toronto- and London based property investor, is targeting German retail for its third supermarket- but first Europe-only, real estate fund.

While its predecessor funds were partly allocated to Europe, the manager has raised its hard cap of €250m - exceeding its original €200m target - for Slate European Real Estate Fund III (Slate Europe III). This new fund will buy grocery-anchored properties with a focus on assets in Germany.

Slate Europe III is also the first of Slate’s vehicles to include European investors, who contributed 56% of the capital, or €140m. A further 14% came from Asian investors.

One of Slate’s founding partners, Brady Welch, has moved from Toronto to London to lead the push into Europe. The firm also has an office in Frankfurt. 

Welch said: ‘During this unprecedented time of market disruption, we are pleased to close Slate Europe III at its hard-cap and are thankful for the confidence investors from diverse geographies continue to place in us as Slate expands its presence across Europe.’

"We have been investing in last-mile logistics for some time and are proud to launch our third fund in the European grocery real estate space since 2016, a feat that underscores our commitment to the sector and validates the importance of last-mile solutions in the grocery real estate market."

Slate describes itself as a ‘value-oriented’ manager. The business has $6.5bn in assets under management, in both private and publicly traded structures. Since December 2016, Slate has completed a total of 250 grocery property acquisitions in Europe totaling over 450,000 sq m of gross leasable space. Big tenants include discount grocers Lidl and Aldi. It manages its European business from offices in London, Frankfurt, Dublin, and Luxembourg.