European fund manager Catalyst Capital has acquired €194 mln of retail assets in Sweden, Germany and Poland and an office development in Paris for its new €1 bn Catalyst Core Plus European Property Fund (CCPEPF).
The opportunistic investor and asset manager announced on Thursday that it has acquired Galleria Center Syd in Malmo (pictured) from Barings Real Estate, the Rathaus Center Dietzenbach near Frankfurt from Hahn Group and the Zielony Targówek retail park in Warsaw from Credit Suisse Asset Management. It has also agreed to forward fund an office development by Vinci Immobilier in Saint-Denis, Paris.
Galleria Center Syd is situated next to the E6 highway, between the cities of Helsingborg and Malmo. It was refurbished and extended in 2015 to provide 40,394 m2 of space and is anchored by a number of leading international and Nordic retailers.
Catalyst has appointed Nordic real estate investment and asset management company, NCAP, as strategic and operating advisor. The vendor was advised by Cushman & Wakefield and Mannheimer Swartling. Senior debt finance for the acquisition was provided by Helaba.
The Rathaus Center Dietzenbach is a two-storey shopping centre in Dietzenbach, located 12 km south east of Frankfurt. It comprises 21,590 m2 of space, let to 32 tenants. The Zielony Targówek retail park in Warsaw comprises 25,000 m2, of which 85% is let to 12 international and national retailers.
Kean Hird, partner at Catalyst and manager of the CCPEPF fund, said: ‘These three retail investments provide stable, long-term income, with the potential for value enhancement through asset management and development initiatives, which will generate attractive returns for our investors. Center Syd is the main destination shopping centre in one of the most densely-populated areas of Sweden. It has a strong mix of tenants and is performing well in terms of footfall and turnover.’
The @Work office development purchased in Paris is a 6,700 m2 building in the Pleyel district of Saint-Denis, which is set to become the main transport hub of the Grand Paris project and the site of the Olympic village for the 2024 Olympic games.
First close core-plus fund
Catalyst announced the first close of CCPEPF in October 2017 with equity commitments of more than €455 mln from international institutional investors. With leverage, the fund will have an initial €1 bn to invest in income-producing assets across all sectors. Geographically, it will invest in the countries in northern Europe where Catalyst has an established presence, Germany, Poland, the UK and France.
Catalyst announced the first six investments for the fund totalling €200 mln in March 2018. They are located in Frankfurt, Berlin, Leipzig, Paris, Wroclaw and three new autobahn service stations in Germany, with lease lengths ranging between five and 25 years.
