Bouwfonds announced on Thursday that Bouwfonds European Real Estate Parking Fund III (BEREPF III) is buying the portfolio in a share deal from a predecessor fund, BEREPF l.

Last October, PropertyEU broke the news that Bouwfonds IM had put the €250 mln pan-European car park portfolio up for sale. The properties are located in major cities in Germany, France, the UK, the Netherlands and Spain and are to be included in BEREPF III, an open-ended special property fund.

The vendor is the special property fund Bouwfonds European Real Estate Parking Fund (BEREPF I), the first investment fund exclusively dedicated to investments in car park real estate that Bouwfonds IM launched in 2005.

End of fund term
BEREPF I has held the properties for 12 years and has reached the end of its fund term. Bouwfonds said that investors in BEREPF I have received an 'attractive return' on their investment in a challenging period dominated by the financial crisis that started following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

Cushman & Wakefield managed a defined competitive disposal process, which attracted significant interest from 48 global capital sources and resulted in 10 formal offers.

Jaap Gillis, CEO of Bouwfonds IM said: 'We are delighted to be able to continue to manage this portfolio on behalf of one of our successor funds. Portfolios of this size and quality do not come to the market very often.'

Bart Pierik, managing director of parking at Bouwfonds IM, said: 'After twelve years of management, we obviously knew the portfolio very well. Due to the complexity of our involvement, we ensured that we adhered to strict compliance principles in order to manage the potential conflicts of interest to ensure a transparent, competitive and fair sale process.'

Bulk of portfolio located in France
Seven of the car parks are located in France, of which three in the capital city Paris. Four properties are located in the UK, of which two in Greater London. Another two are located in the Netherlands and one in Spain. The three German properties are in Gelsenkirchen, Bonn and Passau. Altogether, the portfolio comprises of approximately 10,000 parking spaces. The operators include renowned companies such as Q-Park, Indigo, NCP and Verkehrswacht.

Martin Eberhardt FRICS, managing director of Bouwfonds IM Deutschland, added: 'Institutional investor demand for car park investments remains very high. With the purchase of this portfolio, BEREPF III is now nearly fully invested and entirely placed with institutional investors. We are already working on preparations for further car park funds, which will be launched soon.'

Bouwfonds IM manages a portfolio with a total value of €6 bn, distributed between commercial and residential real estate, communication infrastructure, parking, and agriculture.

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