Aukera Real Estate‘s European real estate fund, which is seeking to raise €500m, has secured a commitment of up to €50m from the asset management arm of German insurer HUK-Coburg.
HUK-Coburg Asset Management (HAM) has anchored Aukera Real Estate Debt Fund I, a fund intended to grant senior secured loans for office, retail, logistics and residential properties initially in Germany and the Netherlands, with a plan to extend to various other markets in Europe.
Aukera said the fund’s first transactions are already in due diligence or nearing closing, adding it expects to secure at least five investments for the new fund by the end of 2025. The manager expects to make loans of €10m to €20m for each financing deal.
Lars Armgart, CEO of Aukera, said: “With our new fund, we offer institutional investors the opportunity to achieve comparatively high returns with low risk at the start of the new real estate cycle. We are delighted to have gained HAM, representing the HUK-Coburg insurance group, as our first capital partner who shares our conviction that the best time to invest in alternative real estate financing is now.
“Aukera provides the most experienced team in the German market in the field of real estate debt and we are confident that we will be able to build up the portfolio of our new fund quickly. We are focusing on a high degree of diversification in terms of locations and asset classes in order to minimise investment risks further.”
The commitment represents the insurer’s first real estate debt fund investment in almost five years.
Maximilian Cosack, head of private asset at HUK-Coburg Asset Management, said: “After carefully observing the real estate financing market, we conclude that a commitment to Aukera’s fund fits perfectly into our real estate debt portfolio of approximately €700m assets under management.
“Intense talks with the management of Aukera have created a very stable basis of trust on which we build our commitment. The current market phase at the beginning of the next real estate cycle makes us optimistic to have picked the right asset class and the right fund product from a professional partner at the right time.”
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