Greenman has launched a fund to own €500m worth of European supermarkets through sale-and-leaseback transactions.
The Dublin-headquartered real estate fund manager said its open-ended Greenman European Supermarkets (GES) fund can also acquire logistics and omni-channel grocery distribution assets across the EU.
GES received regulatory approval last year, has attracted initial subscriptions of close to €10m and is targeting a gross asset value of €500m by 2025, mainly via primary and secondary sale-and-leaseback transactions.
The fund made its first investment in a portfolio of six Carrefour supermarkets in France, acquired through its French arm Greenman Arth.
David O’Meara, head of distribution at Greenman, said: “We have had huge success with our flagship fund, Greenman Open, whose strategy is focused on food-anchored real estate located exclusively in Germany.
“Europe’s grocery sector is evolving rapidly, which means retailers must be willing to invest in their businesses to stay relevant and are therefore being forced into considering their real estate requirements.
“We believe that our experience in the selection, acquisition and management of such assets in Europe’s most competitive grocery market, as well our established relationships with Europe’s top retailers and developers, mean that we are ideally placed to help investors take advantage of the many opportunities emerging at this time.
“By investing outside of Germany in other parts of the EU, we’re looking for GES to build on the success of our Open fund, which has recently surpassed €1bn of AUM.”
Greenman said GES was “a light green fund under Article 8” of the EU’s sustainable finance disclosure regulation with “a major focus on sustainability and minimising the negative impact the portfolio will have on the environment”.
It will focus initially on energy independence through solar panels and sustainable food production via vertical farming.
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