GLOBAL – German advisory Feri has formed a joint venture with Darmstadt-based closed-end fund specialist US Treuhand to target the US property market for German investors.
Together, the companies will establish UST Immobilien, a joint venture in which Feri will hold a 32.5% stake.
The remaining shares will be held by Lothar Estein, founder and owner of US Treuhand, and Volker Arndt, US Treuhand managing director.
The new company, headquartered in Bad Homburg, will develop US funds for "professional and semi-professional investors", Feri said.
A Feri spokesman confirmed to IPE that, to date, the consultancy had advised clients on US property investments on an individual basis but now wanted to put that business segment "on a more systematic basis".
The new company will be run by Arndt and Hans-Ascan Wieck, who is heading private equity services at Feri Investment Services.
The actual buying and selling of properties, as well as their management, will be handled by Orlando-based Eistein & Associates USA.
Feri added that it would also set up a new investment management company that will "take care of the portfolio and risk management" to meet the new requirements under the German Capital Investment Act (KAGB).
The German advisory currently has around €3bn in tangible assets under management and hopes to expand this segment with the new joint venture.
Arnd Thorn, chief executive at Feri, said: "Real asset classes are gaining increasing significance both for institutional investors and for high-net-worth individuals, and directly held properties represent a core element of any strategically oriented portfolio of tangibles."
