German pension fund to invest €400m in housing

An unnamed southern German pension fund (Versorgungswerk) has set up a masterfund structure to invest €400m in residential property.

Bouwfonds Investment Management, which has been awarded the investment and asset management mandate, has made initial purchases worth €102m in residential property and projects for the Spezialfonds.

Among the first assets in the portfolio are project developments in Heidelberg and Freiburg worth €54m, as well as properties In Wiesbaden, Potsdam, Hannover, Hamburg and Leipzig worth €48m. The properties, either new or refurbished, are situated in “good and central” residential locations.

Bouwfonds said it would target “fast growing conurbations” as it sought to build up a €400m portfolio over two years.

The vehicle is set up as a masterfund structure that will be used to invest in other property sectors administered by Master-KVG Institutional Investment Partners (2IP). 2IP has also been commissioned by the Versorgungswerk to take on specific risk management tasks within the investment process.

Meanwhile, several other investment companies announced they were granted the KVG licence, which was introduced following the KAGB implementation of the AIFM directive in Germany. Replacing KAGs, KVGs can now be set up by former closed-ended fund managers.

Hansainvest is one of the investment managers that wants to make full use of the new law to widen its offerings from Spezialfonds to closed-ended funds.

It said this would make the management of tangible assets like forest, agriculture or timber investments possible. Hansainvest confirmed it has been awarded administration as KVG of two closed-ended real estate funds by the Habona Invest.

HIH Global Invest has already launched three new Spezialfonds and one individual fund under the new KVG license.

The Spezialfonds were set up in the new form of an Investment-Kommanditgesellschaft (InvKG), a limited partnership allowing the pooling of assets.

Torsten Doyen, member of the board at HIH Global Invest, told IP Real Estate that his company sees “major growth potential” in the new vehicle created under the KAGB.

He said: “The InvestmentKG allows tax-efficient pooling of directly held properties in portfolios,” he explained, adding that it allows investors to get integrated reporting and unified valuation of properties.

Doyen confirmed his company has already “realised several” InvKGs this year.

IntReal has also announced it has been granted the KVG licence and wants to make use of the new pooling vehicle next to classic Spezialfonds.