BNP Paribas RE snaps up iii-investments

France's BNP Paribas Real Estate has acquired iii-investments, the second-largest manager of real estate special funds (Spezialfonds) for institutional investors in Germany.

iii-investments was a subsidiary of HypoVereinsbank, a German bank which is part of the UniCedit Group.

BNP Paribas Real Estate said the acquisition makes its investment management business one of Europe's top 10 real estate asset managers, with €18 bn in assets under management.

The acquisition is subject to the approval of the competition authorities and could be effective by the fourth quarter of 2013.

The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

The deal is part of BNP Paribas Real Estate's strategy of growing its investment management business in Europe and boosting its positions in France, Germany and the UK in particular, which together account for over 80% of Europe's total real estate investments. It also ties in with BNP Paribas Group's expansion plan in Germany, notably by reinforcing its leadership position in real estate.

iii-investments, founded in 1958, manages €4.2 bn of third-party real estate and debt assets for German institutional investors. These include pension funds, retirement plans and insurance companies, mainly based in Germany. The assets, consisting mostly of offices, are located mainly in Germany as well as France, the UK, 10 other European countries and Japan.

Reinhard Mattern and Bernd Schöffel, currently managing directors of iii-investments, will continue to manage the firm which will be renamed BNP Paribas REIM Germany.