No assets, no empire, no distractions – Joachim Arenth’s deal-making philosophy

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Interviews

JenAcon GmbH is a specialist real estate advisory firm focused on complex property portfolio transactions. The company is best known for running structured bidding processes that bring multiple investors into competitive sale situations. It typically works on deals that are too large or too complex for a conventional brokered approach. Retail property is a particular strength, alongside offices, logistics and other commercial assets.

REFIRE: Congratulations, Joachim. JenAcon is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Happy Birthday!

Dr. Joachim Arenth: Thank you. And likewise to you. Happy Birthday on REFIRE's 20th anniversary.

What were your aspirations when founding JenAcon, back in 2006?

Arenth: Like most founders, I started with a vision. Overall, to bring the best of my past into the new company. More specifically, I had three things in mind. Firstly, JenAcon's work should consistently be research- and fact-based, as was the scientific work I’d carried out years before in the U.S. Presidential Libraries. Secondly, it was to be very well structured, as I’d experienced in my earlier years with McKinsey. And thirdly, it should be deal-oriented, as we’d always done it at Bertelsmann.

And, could you realise all that?

Arenth: To a surprisingly high degree, yes, indeed. Structured deal-making has been JenAcon's DNA from day one.

And it has paid off?

Arenth: Sure. To date, we have closed more than 100 transactions, with a total volume of €3.5 billion. About two-thirds of that has been in retail, working with clients like EDEKA, both the headquarters and the regions, and Aldi, North and South. JenAcon supports its clients from the initial concept of the sale or purchase until the Signing and the Closing. And we enjoy substantial repeat business. So yes, starting JenAcon has worked out rather well.

What would be other principles of faith?

Arenth: I’d say – creating a small, yet dedicated team. No assets - except my phone. And a full and dedicated focus on deal-making.

And is this how it turned out in practice?

Arenth: More or less. Of course, we are no longer operating out of a garage. We’ve just moved into a new, larger office. We’re fully equipped, with company cars and so on. But we do not own assets, including real estate.

Why not?

Arenth: Well, if you mix the roles of adviser and buyer, questions arise. A client might ask: why is JenAcon offering this asset to the market? To me? Is it not good enough for them? Independence matters. Especially for a small consulting company led and owned by the founder. Trust is everything.

That’s a fair point. Other principles?

Arenth: Keep the team efficient, that is, small and focused. I am not interested in commanding an army. I see myself more as a project leader who focuses on one mission; more a captain of a ship than an admiral of a fleet. Small teams make better decisions and work faster.

So, no spreading your wings internationally, no planned IPO, no corporate expansion?

Arenth: Well, we serve clients abroad – in Switzerland, Austria, France and the UK. But we are not in the business of distributing ballpoint pens. Focus is the key word: focus on our clients, on our investors, on our deals. There are too many talented managers who try to be everywhere at once. Most of them fail.

An office in Jena, and that's it?

Arenth: Well, my wife is a professor of Early Modern History and worked in Jena when I started this business. That explains why we’re here. By the way, the people here, the city, and the region, are just great. The people are far less aggressive than in other regions, they’re open-minded, love their families, support their friends, they’re interested in art. 

Of course, it's not as glamorous as NYC or Munich where I’ve worked before, but it’s much better than many people in other Federal states think. Jena is a science city at its best and, at the same time, a well-kept secret.

The business model, the city. What matters most?

Arenth: The business model, and the team. No doubt about it. Today, we are a group of twelve individuals - young and old, female and male, East and West, introvert and extrovert, a perfect mixture. Everyone contributes to the overall success.

A well-balanced team, well focused, in a small boat. Enough to survive the storms?

Arenth: We’ve handled the dot-com crisis, Lehman, Brexit, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the zero-interest phase, rising interest rates, sinking multipliers, new media, home office, and other biblical plagues. And we’re still here. Besides the team, it is helpful to have one good idea per year. I mean, a really good one. Not the usual mass-mailing approach that everybody goes for. That doesn't work anymore.

Why? What has changed over the last 20 years?

Arenth: Access. To give you an example. It has become increasingly hard to reach anyone by phone. Twenty years ago, even ten, you reached 80% of your clients or investors by phone. In 2025, it’s more like 8%, on a good day. That raises the question: how can you run a structured process when nobody picks up?

And…what's your answer to that phenomenon?

Arenth: Work harder, think harder. Never get tired. Use all channels of communication. Never give up. Easy, if you love your work. 

You mentioned needing one really good idea per year - not the usual mass-market approach. Without revealing state secrets, what does that creative process look like at JenAcon? How do you identify an opportunity that others might miss?

Arenth: Once I am through with research, talking to clients, and discussing with my colleagues, I get up early on a Sunday morning and sit alone at an empty desk. No computer, just a pen, a piece of paper, and a cup of tea (cappuccino, if the situation is really challenging). Then I start to think, often listening to my favourite music. 

I’ll give you one example. At one stage I was reflecting on why contacting forty German insolvency lawyers had resulted in a relatively poor outcome. My answer was, well, probably they’re getting called by everybody. Consequently, I wrote mails to insolvency lawyers in the UK, asking whether we can support them in selling German real estate, given that we know our home market pretty well. And we were mandated within days. We sold the portfolio within weeks, and got a nice cheque and a very kind Christmas card. So, thinking ain’t all bad…

Certainly not. Now, what about your work-life balance?

Arenth: I have never had a problem with working long hours when necessary. And my personal luxury is allowing myself to listen to music whilst reading endless due diligence or market reports or writing an information memo. Thus, no portion of my life is lost while listening to Manfred Mann’s Earth Band for pitch masters, or - when checking SPVs - Bad Company. And of course, when negotiating our fees, Humble Pie.

Yet you seem to work the old-fashioned way. Maybe AI could help?

Arenth: Yes, let your Avatar call mine, and see if they close a hundred million euro deal while the two of us go for a coffee, okay? Yes, if only deal-making was that easy... Seriously though, I was using emails minutes after they were invented. My BlackBerry had a one-digit number. JenAcon was the first client of today's leading data room provider, using electronic data rooms while others were still drowning under tons of paper. And, of course, we use AI for research. Yet, there are still limits when it comes to deal-making.

What is your clients' definition of deal-making?

Arenth: As so often, the English language provides the answer. There is an expression used only for driving in a Rolls Royce, 'waftability' - that sense of effortless, frictionless movement. If my clients experience something like that while I’m selling their real estate portfolio, I would consider that a success.

Looking ahead - what are your plans for the future? For JenAcon and for you personally.

Arenth: Despite the fact that my family doctor wants to print my blood values on a poster and hang it in his doctor's office, I am getting older. That's undeniable. Thus, in the coming years, Oliver Heinrichs, our CFO, and Matthias Alff, our COO, both experienced managers who have been with JenAcon almost since the beginning, will take on even more responsibility. There is no need for me to hold 100% of JenAcon shares indefinitely.

How would this new JenAcon be different from today's?

Arenth: Olli and Matthias will guarantee that JenAcon remains reliable, solid, and trustworthy. Maybe even more research-based. My feeling is we will experience more organic growth, hire more analysts and associates, and work with more AI. Probably in a more highly professionalised market where corporate real estate departments work hand in hand with advisers they can trust.

What would be your role? In fairness, I don’t quite see you spending your days rocking gently on your porch…

Arenth: Certainly not. Most probably, I will keep on working as a consultant, and accept one or the other board memberships that I have been offered. And I would work even harder for charity than I currently do as MD of the jenacon foundation; I’d like to read more, discuss more, maybe comment a bit more in public.