Long Harbour ground lease fund makes acquisitions in Netherlands

Long Harbour’s flagship European ground lease fund has made its first deals in The Netherlands.

Long Harbour said it has completed the structuring and acquisition of commercial ground leases for the central guest facilities of two holiday parks on behalf of the Long Harbour European Secured Income Fund I (LHESIF I) fund.

The assets were acquired from Landal GreenParks for an undisclosed amount.

LHESIF I will own the freeholds of the central guest facilities, Landal will retain the leasehold and continue to operate the assets.

The Landal Het Vennenbos holiday park is located in De Brabantse Kempen. The 53-hectare park offers central facilities and 523 holiday cottages. The second asset, Landal De Lommerbergen, is a 35-hectare holiday park with 502 cottages situated close to the Dutch-German border.

Long Harbour said the open-ended LHESIF I fund – which seeks to raise €400m – has now deployed €100m into the European ground lease market in just over a year, in Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.

The LHESIF I launched in November 2019 with a mandate to deploy capital into commercial and residential ground lease deals in strong European markets such as Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands and The Nordics.

Andy Wheeler, investment manager for the Long Harbour European Secured Income Fund, said: “These latest acquisitions are Long Harbour’s first in The Netherlands and some of the largest assets we have acquired on behalf of LHESIF I to date.

”The bifurcation of the holiday parks into a new freehold and leasehold structure will provide stable, long-term ground-rent income for the fund.”

Richard Silva, fund manager for the Long Harbour European Secured Income Fund, said: “It’s clear from the strong engagement that we have seen from owner-occupiers looking to explore a freehold and leasehold structure since launching the fund that the market in Europe has huge potential.

“For investors and particularly for pension funds, the super secure, inflation-linked long income that ground rents provide is highly attractive, and given the size and potential of this dynamic market we see significant further capital moving into the sector.

”LHESIF I is an open-ended vehicle, so there is no limit on capital, and we are actively seeking additional capital partners to bring forward the deals in our pipeline.”

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