GERMANY – The Rheinische Versorgungskassen (RVK) has awarded Art-Invest Real Estate a mandate to set up a €200m Spezialfonds.

It will be investing in office and retail assets in “good German locations”, according to the KAG, which received its license from Bafin just over a year ago.

The €5bn RVK has just under half of its portfolio in investment shares, of which 15% is invested in real estate – apart from a 2% share of directly held properties in the total portfolio.

It has earmarked €100m for the Spezialfonds, while the rest will be debt financed.

RVK is collecting pension contributions from civil servants and public employees in the Rhineland region in Germany.

RMC Risk Management consulted RVK on the investment.

Meanwhile, Patrizia and CA Immo have finalised the deal on the sale of a property portfolio in Hessen.

Bruno Ettenauer, managing director at Austrian real estate company CA Immo, confirmed to IPE that the sale – as well as the sale of shares in Tower 185 just a few weeks earlier – was part of the company’s strategy for its German subsidiary.

“These were assets that did not fit our portfolio over the long term because of their size,” he said.

In 2007, CA Immo bought German Vivico Real Estate, aiming to develop properties and build a long-term portfolio.

As for the Hessen portfolio, Ettenauer said it was “a good time” to sell, and that the company had recognised a "divestment opportunity”.

“Germany will remain a very important market to us, and it is among the top five investment targets for any investor worldwide,” he said.

Currently, CA Immo Germany is developing the office tower Kennedy House in Berlin and has recently let 14,000 sqm in the Kontorhaus in Munich to Google.

Ettenauer confirmed that, “for the time being”, no other major sales are planned after those two.

Lastly, Hamburg Trust has acquired the new headquarters of the German trade association for the wood and metal industry in Mainz for €55m.

The real estate company plans to "transfer the asset” to a Spezialfonds to be launched in early 2014.

The building was bought from developer J Molitor Real Estate and is currently under construction, scheduled to be finished at the end of next year.

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