Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM) has acquired a second residential asset in France from Elithis Groupe.

The property fund manager said it has invested around €29m on behalf of an institutional mandate to buy the “energy-positive” Elithis residential tower and attached low-rise building development in the city of Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France.

Xavier Jongen, CRIM’s managing director, said the latest Elithis development acquisition is the second Elithis project development on behalf of the institutional mandate, after an earlier investment in a similar property in Dijon.

Jongen added: “It is part of an ambitious Catella programme for our institutional investors that is bringing these world-leading, energy-positive buildings to cities across France.

“The unique linking of sustainability to affordability in the cutting-edge technological design means we can simultaneously address the two great challenges of our time in the energy transition to fight climate change and the affordable housing supply crisis, without affecting investment returns.”

In 2022, Berlin-based CRIM launched what it called the world’s first energy-positive residential building impact fund to invest in towers developed by Elithis Groupe.

The Catella Elithis Energy-Positive Fund, backed by Norwegian municipal pensions giant KLP and alongside institutional investors, targets a total asset volume of €500m to invest in residential towers and sites in France.

To read the latest IPE Real Assets magazine click here.