Ares scoops €400m pan-European office portfolio

New York-listed Ares Management has reached agreement on the acquisition of a 240,000 m2 multi-country office portfolio from IVG Institutional Funds.

Financial details were not disclosed.

The portfolio is valued at more than €400 mln and consists of 30 properties located across six European countries, including the UK, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland and Spain.

The portfolio is the second to be acquired from IVG by Ares this year, following the purchase of a 45,000 m2, eight-property office and retail package in February.

‘This transaction further demonstrates our proven expertise in completing complex multi-jurisdictional transactions, which gives sellers confidence in our ability to close in a timely manner. It also fits with our strategy to deliver upside growth through diversification across geographies and asset types for our investors,’ said Bill Benjamin, partner in the Ares Real Estate Group. ‘We believe this portfolio provides several compelling asset management opportunities, including the ability to create significant value from leasing.’

CBRE advised IVG in the transaction.

Dutch assets
More than half the portfolio – 18 properties totalling around 155,000 m2 – consists of assets in the Netherlands, located in the four main cities, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. According to market sources, the Dutch portion of the portfolio will be managed by a joint venture between Ares and Amsterdam-based APF International, which will also co-invest in the assets.

Martin Tartsch, executive director at IVG Institutional Funds, said the disposal of the portfolio ‘demonstrates IVG’s commitment to delivering above expectation performance to our clients’.
‘We continue to seek out the right market circumstances to identify and execute the disposal strategies for non-core assets on behalf of our investors.'

Ares Management is a global alternative asset manager with around $10 bn of real estate assets under management as of June 30, 2015 and more than 15 offices in the US, Europe and Asia. It has invested in Europe for the past two decades.

In March, Ares purchased a German package of 303 residential and 28 commercial units, totalling 22,000 m2 of lettable space, from a fund managed by Norway-based Obligo Investment Management.

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