Patrizia Immobilien invests in German residential for insurance client

Patrizia Immobilien has confirmed its purchase of a German residential portfolio sold last month by Bouwfonds Investment Management.

The Augsburg-headquartered fund manager said it bought the 223,000sqm portfolio for several hundred million euros. IPE Real Estate understands the price was close to €300m.

The deal was said to be made for a major German insurance company, which, according to media reports, is Barmenia.

The total property portfolio is made up of around 3,500 apartments spread across 50 properties in around 25 major German cities.

Philipp Schaper, group head of transactions at Patrizia, said: “There continues to be high demand for good quality rental accommodation in Germany, as proven by the high occupancy rate across this geographically diverse portfolio.

“We remain interested in identifying the most compelling investment opportunities across Europe, and this most recent acquisition is a strong endorsement of our ability to identify, acquire and manage such assets.”

The portfolio, originally owned by several private Dutch investor funds, is 97% let and includes properties in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Bavaria.

“We acquired these assets having identified the strong fundamentals that underlie the portfolio through the low void rate and strong locations, and it is in line with our buy-and-hold strategy,” said Peret Bergmann, managing director of Patrizia WohnInvest.

“Further to this, we are also planning to privatise individual properties in order to deliver meaningful income to our investors.”