Revetas Capital has been hired to reposition a $4bn (€3.42bn) US real estate portfolio on behalf Deutsche Finance Group representing German pension funds and other investors.
Revetas did not name the client when announcing the mandate, but sources have told IPE Real Assests that it is Deutsche Finance America (DFA), the US arm of Munich-based Deutsche Finance Group.
Deutsche Finance Group did not reply to a request for comment.
According to Revetas, the portfolio “has a high quality core component” and includes life sciences, multifamily, student housing, partially-completed developments and offices across several top-tier US cities.
Many German pension funds are adjusting their signficant exposure to US real estate after being affected by price corrections in recent years. Last year, Deutsche Finance America was the target of a lawsuit, alongside German pension fund BVK and Universal Investment, filed by Core, a private members’ club, Jennie Enterprise, Dangene Enterprise, founders and owners of Core, seeking damages for allegedly failing to deliver on the promises to develop properties in New York City and San Francisco.
Revetas said it would “aim to capitalise on an evolving US real estate market repricing by pursuing the most suitable path for each asset – including repositionings, selective dispositions, refinancings and capital restructurings – while maintaining continuity for tenants, lenders and partners”.
Eric Assimakopoulos, founding partner of Revetas Group, said: “Revetas has been mandated as an independent fiduciary to maximise value for all investors in the portfolio. By combining the investors’ deep platform knowledge with Revetas’ deep value and operational toolkit, we are confident we can optimise value for existing stakeholders through the most appropriate solution for each property.”
Marty Burger, founder and CEO of Infinite Global Real Estate Partners and formerly CEO of Silverstein Properties, will help lead the repositioning.
Burger said: “After years of stagnation in the markets following the COVID-19 pandemic, the team of real estate professionals at Revetas is ideally positioned to help large institutions work through legacy issues while creating new opportunities.”
Another German-based real estate fund manager, Union Investment, is also reshaping its US real estate portfolio to reduce exposure to offices and to reinvest in other sectors, including multifamily and food-anchored retail.
“The focus will then be on smaller fungible lot sizes,” a spokesperson for Union Investment said. “US offices will remain a cornerstone in our overseas portfolios but with a downsized allocation.”
