EDF Invest and Savills Investment Management have teamed up to acquire and manage a European portfolio of multifamily and student accommodation assets worth over €600m in the next two years.
The partnership involves EDF Invest acquiring a 50% stake in the holding company of Savills IM’s European Living Fund (EULIV).
The venture is seeded by EULIV’s €220m portfolio of prime multifamily assets located in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
The deal marks the first major commitment by EDF Invest to the European living sector. EDF Invest is the €11bn investment arm of Électricité de France, managing a €1.5bn real estate portfolio.
Clémence Caniaux, head of real estate at EDF Invest, said: “This partnership strengthens our exposure to the European residential sector and is fully aligned with our long-term investment strategy.
“It also represents an important milestone for EDF Invest, marking our first participation in a residential platform alongside leading partners.”
Philippe Berrin, investment director at EDF Invest, said: “This investment marks a further step in the execution of our diversification strategy and underlines our confidence in the resilience and long-term potential of the residential sector.
“By joining this high-quality platform, we are strengthening EDF Invest’s footprint across Europe and positioning ourselves to create sustainable value and capture new growth opportunities in this dynamic segment.”
Savills IM’s €22bn European platform currently manages a €2.8bn portfolio of over 9,000 residential-rental units in the UK, Europe and Japan. The core/core-plus EULIV, launched in 2023 and backed by Savills IM’s minority shareholder and investor Samsung Life, focuses on modern, sustainable residential assets across Europe.
Marc Gonzalvez, director of product and strategy at Savills IM, said: “The creation of this joint venture demonstrates Savills IM’s capabilities in the design and execution of bespoke capital solutions for like-minded investors, where we can provide access to our platform outside of traditional pooled fund vehicles.
“We would like to thank the EDF Invest team for their trust and commitment and are excited to focus on the deployment of this new venture.”
Patrick Au Yeung, senior fund director for Savills IM’s European living fund, said: “Since the launch of EULIV we have been successfully deploying capital in high-quality multifamily assets with strong ESG credentials, providing resilient income and long term value growth to our investors. Our consistency in investment belief has been appreciated by our new partner as we look to the next chapter to further diversify the portfolio.
“In addition to a continued focus on our existing markets, we will be expanding into new countries and sub-sectors in Europe, where we are seeing attractive opportunities across a range of residential-rental products in the likes of Denmark, Italy and Ireland.”
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