In an innovative new form of deal, German food-retail real estate fund manager Greenman Investments has entered into a €95.5m framework agreement with developer Schoofs Immobilien. Among the terms of the deal, the agreement will allow the Greenman OPEN fund the right to buy three new food anchored retail assets in Germany.
The new centres will comprise a combination of Fachkmarktzentren (FMZs) and Hybrid Centres anchored by major German supermarket chains REWE, Aldi and Lidl, and are located in Tuttlingen, Baden-Württemberg and two in Westerwald in Rhineland-Palatinate. Once complete, the centres will have a total lettable area of 29,691sqm.
Interestingly, it’s the first time that Greenman is buying assets that include residential elements, as is the case in the first asset on the Aesculap roundabout in the town of Tuttlingen in Baden-Württemberg. In the new spirit of single-story supermarkets now being built in urban areas with residential above the store, the asset will include 72 residential and business apartments when it is completed in summer 2021, in addition to a REWE and an Aldi store.
James McEvoy, head of acquisitions at the Irish-owned Greenman, said: “This deal is part of our strategy to innovate and create new ways of working with our partners to unlock opportunities in the German food retail sector. As well as highlighting our continued confidence in the food and necessity retail sector, which has proved extremely resilient during the current crisis, it also provides us with an opportunity to benefit from the significant dislocation between demand and availability of suitable food retail property across Germany.”
McEvoy said Greenman OPEN, now the largest German food-retail focused fund on the market, has continued to see steady inflows of equity, despite the volatility of the past few months, as investors look for income.
“By partnering with Schoofs, we will get better access to development opportunities in excellent locations, allowing us to continue to expand the portfolio and reach our target assets under management of €1bn by 2021.”
Mohamed Younis, managing director of Schoofs, said: “This deal shows that despite the COVID-19 lockdown, construction works are continuing as normal in Germany. It is also a great opportunity for us to partner with a reputable and reliable international buyer as we push forward our plans to develop these three assets.”
We reported in REFIRE last December that Schoofs and Greenman were teeing up what could become a stream of projects delivered by the Frankfurt-headquartered Schoofs, one of Germany’s leading developers of food retail-anchored neighbourhood centres and retail parks, Greenman’s core business.
Greenman had just bought a planned retail hybrid development in the town of Homberg (Efze), near Bad Hersfeld in northern Hesse, for €35m. That asset is scheduled for completion in November 2020 and will comprise 11,935 sqm, with 17 tenants (among them REWE and ALDI as anchor tenants) and a combined weighted average remaining lease term of around 13 years.
Greenman recently bought a Luxembourg fund administrator COFIBOL, which will enable it to act as corporate service provider for all the group’s Luxembourg-domiciled funds and investment vehicles, including its €800m+ flagship Greenman OPEN fund. Greenman has been expanding into France and plans to increase its asset under management to €3bn over the next 5 years.
