US hedge fund Marathon scoops Monti retail portfolio for €168m

The New York-based opportunistic hedge fund Marathon Asset Managementhas bought the Irish-Polish 'Monti' portfolio of German retail assets from an Australian listed fund managed by Canada’s Brookfield Capital Management for €168m.

The Multiplex European Property Fund is managed by Brookfield Capital Management and is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Brookfield inherited the assets when it took over Australian contractor Multiplex.

The portfolio contains 61 properties spread across Germany and consists mainly of retail assets, DIY-stores and two logistics properties. Major retail tenants include Edeka, Hornbach, Netto and REWE.

The sale of the properties to Marathon now means that the entire Monti portfolio has now been sold off, after five nursing homes had been previously sold to Spezialfonds Patrizia Pflege-Invest Deutschland, managed by listed Augsburg-based Patrizia Immobilien.

Marathon has been mainly active in property debt investment across Europe, and is one of the equity owners in Germany's erstwhile largest property company IVG Immobilien, which is now owned by its previous bondholders after filing for insolvency three years ago. It has been buying heavily in depressed European markets over the past two years, particularly Ireland, where it has been buying up regional shopping centres, residential apartments and commercial loan portfolios.

Earlier this year Marathon bought out the remaining 55 retail properties from the liquidating Luxembourg closed-end fund German Retail Partnership from fund manager Internos for an undisclosed price.