AEW Europe wins €200m real estate separate account mandate

Real estate manager AEW Europe has won a €200m mandate from German pension fund ZVK for Saxony to invest in commercial real estate across Europe.

The mandate is a separate account and will be structured through a German Spezialfonds.

It will be managed by Institutional Investment Partners.

Marc Langenbach, portfolio manager at AEW Europe for the ZVK mandate, said: “The objective of the mandate is to deliver a sustainable income return from a portfolio of assets in strong locations.”

He said the mandate set out an ambitious programme in terms of assets to be bought, but that the firm was confident it would live up to this.

“More than €100m of investments are already under exclusivity for the mandate,” he said.

ZVK for Saxony is a pension fund for public employees in the German province of Saxony.

HQ Trust advised ZVK in the manager selection process.

Rob Wilkinson, chief executive at AEW Europe, described the mandate win as another step forward as the firm continued to grow its business in Germany and diversify its European client base. 

“We have seen a significant uplift in our German business activity over the last 12 months, and we expect this to be a key growth market for us over the next 3-5 years,” he said.

The firm said it was opening a Frankfurt office, adding to the German operations from its Düsseldorf base.