GERMANY - New Immobilien-Spezialfonds are entering the market while a further two open real estate fund are set to be closed.

Aberdeen Immobilien KAG has launched a residential Immobilien-Spezialfond with €100m in seed money investing solely in German residential property.

The real estate company sees heightened domestic and international interest in German residential property given a trend towards re-urbanisation with an increasing number of single households and an increase in demand of space per person.

German cities are satisfying this demand by converting areas formerly used by industry or military in inner-city locations.

The fund is currently invested in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Karlsruhe. It has also secured objects in Heidelberg and Munich, Aberdeen said.

Meanwhile, Warburg-Henderson announced the second placement of an Immobilien-Spezialfonds focusing on commercial property in Austria.

In total, €180m in capital was sourced from German and Austrian institutional investors, with the fund aiming at a total volume (including debt capital) of €360m.

Henning Klöppelt, board member at Warburg-Henderson KAG, said: "The second fund has again proven very attractive for risk-averse institutional investors."

He added Austria had a "well-diversified industrial and service structure allowing for further economic growth".

Elsewhere, UBS Real Estate KAG has announced it will dissolve its GOEF UBS (D) 3 Sector Real Estate by 2015.

This is one of the last open-ended real estate funds that had not been designated for closure, after many of the funds suffered liquidity problems in the wake of the financial crisis. 

The German government is now considering a ban on all open-ended real estate funds.

UBS noted that it had already sold six properties for €153m in October 2010 when redemptions were frozen, but "this was not enough to satisfy investors' demands".

The fund still holds 21 properties, with a combined value of €496m, the majority in Spain (40%) and around 18% in Germany.

UBS added that mainly institutional investors and other large investors had been affected by the dissolution of the fund.

Yet another open-ended real estate fund to be shut down is Hansainvest's Hansaimmobilia, with a current value of €268m, which will be dissolved by April next year.

However, Hansainvest is taking back shares in the fund free of charge until 2 October, the company said.

Lastly, independent private equity real estate adviser MGPA has announced the first close of MGPA Asien Spezialfonds, with commitments of €85m from three German institutional investors.

MGPA Asien Spezialfonds is a "yield-focused, core-plus" fund intended primarily for institutional investors in German-speaking countries seeking exposure to Asia Pacific real estate markets, with an investment focus on established markets such as Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.

The target equity capital is €500m.

Christian Schulte Eistrup, managing director of European capital markets, said: "[The fund] will target attractive, income-producing investments with asset management potential, especially in the office and retail sectors.

"Annual distributions to investors and longer-term capital growth potential are key pillars of the investment strategy."

Universal-Investment is the capital investment company (KAG) for MGPA Asien Spezialfonds, while Selinus Capital is MGPA's exclusive distribution partner for the fund in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

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