Asian investor steps into ASR Dutch retail fund

An unnamed Asian investor has ploughed €250 mln into asset manager ASR’s Dutch Prime Retail Fund, bringing foreign capital in the fund to €785 mln.

ASR Real Estate Asset Management could not be reached for comment when contacted by PropertyEU. However, Dutch financial daily Het Financieele Dagblad said the party in question was Japanese, marking the first time an institutional investor from the country has invested in a Dutch retail fund.

‘After having placed more than €500 mln of capital in less than two years, ASR has won the confidence of a leading Asian investor,’ CEO Dick Gort of ASR Real Estate Asset Management said in a statement. ‘Following the entry of various European investors, we have successfully implemented our strategy to further internationalise the group of investors in the fund. This has led to the raising of €250 mln in capital from Asia. The quality and geographical spread of the retail assets as well as the relatively high direct returns are an ideal fit with the investment requirements of our new investor,’ he added.

Including the Asian investor, the ASR Dutch Prime Retail Fund now has nine international instititional investors. The fund has a portfolio of assets valued at around €1.3 bn, ranging from shopping centres and supermarkets to individual retail stores.

In total, ASR has a property portfolio valued at around €3.8 bn, including retail, offices, residential units and agricultural land.