Greenman, a German food-retail real estate fund manager, is investing €46m to buy seven new supermarket properties.

The Greenman Open fund has entered into a framework agreement with developer Schroder Holding and has secured the rights to buy the new assets located in East Germany.

The assets, pre-let to supermarket chain Edeka on 15-year leases, are scheduled to be delivered between 2021 and 2023.

The latest deal follows Greenman Open’s first framework agreement reported in June last year which involved the fund agreeing a €95.5m deal with developer Schoofs Immobilien to buy three new food anchored retail assets.

James McEvoy, head of acquisitions at Greenman, said this latest agreement is a key part of the manager’s strategy to strengthen and maintain its investment pipeline while assuring the high quality of assets in the Greenman Open fund.

“During the pandemic, the resilience of food retail and other essential retail anchored assets has resulted in heightened interest in the sector from domestic and international investors, which means it has become more important than ever for us to leverage our market experience and extensive relationships with developers to access off-market deals.

“Entering into framework agreements such as this one with Schroder and the recent agreement with Schoofs last year, allows both sides to better achieve forward planning and pricing security.”

Hermann Schroeder, managing director of Schroder Holding, said: “Over the course of the past 12 months, the Covid 19 pandemic has demonstrated the important role that essential retail real estate has to play in society during a period of great stress. We are proud to be able to play a small part in supporting that effort.”

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