GERMANY – The German supervisory body BaFin has approved the sale of Commerz Real’s Spezialfonds business to Internos Global Investors.
Before the summer, German banking subsidiary Commerz Real had announced plans to sell its €1.6bn Spezialfonds business to Internos, a new player in the market.
BaFin has now approved the deal, which means it can be “closed successfully”, according to Commerz Real.
It added that 17 employees would change over to Internos.
Commerz Real reiterated its commitment to the institutional market and said it would now focus on structuring products for club deals in the infrastructure and renewable energy sectors.
Elsewhere, Ernst & Young Real Estate has published a study it did together with residential expert Corpus Sireo Real Estate on the challenges for asset management in the residential sector.
One trend identified was the split between asset and property management.
Dietmar Fischer, partner at Ernst & Young Real Estate, pointed out that the former trend of getting both services from one provider was "not always successful”.
He predicted a clearer differentiation between asset management on the one hand and property/facility management on the other in future.
At the moment, four out of 10 surveyed asset managers are offering facility management in-house.
A further future trend, according to E&Y Real Estate, will be a market consolidation into “very large, comprehensive asset managers and very small, specialised companies”.
Lastly, Henderson Global Investors and Palmira Capital Partners have announced a further purchase for the Spezialfonds Henderson German Logistics Fund, launched last year.
The companies bought a logistics centre in Hildesheim, south of Hanover, which had been completed over the summer.
The complex, with a total rental space of 44,631sqm, was bought for an undisclosed sum and is let for 10 years to a tyre-delivery business.
