Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management’s European Residential III fund has secured additional capital commitments totalling €185 mln from three new German pension fund clients, including NAEV, the retirement plan for medical professionals in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Total commitments for the CER III Fund since its launch in 2019 have now reached €475 mln, of which €365 mln was raised in the last 12 months during the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘We are welcoming three new German pension funds into CER III as it transitions to ‘Impact Fund’ status in the next few months under the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ regulations and we anticipate that together with our partner for international clients, CBRE Capital Advisors, we will soon be able to disclose the participation of more first-time investors,’ commented Michael Fink, managing director of CRIM.
The CER III Fund is expected to complete another €100 mln of transactions in coming weeks and has more than €300 mln of deals in its forward investment pipeline across Europe.
The Fund is now well on its way to achieving its mid-term investment target of €1 bn of assets under management and establishing a multi-billion open-ended investment vehicle across European residential real estate markets for German and international institutional investors. The next closing is planned for the second quarter of 2021.
CER III will be reclassified as an Article 9 ‘Dark Green’ Impact Fund under the taxonomy of the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).
CRIM first announced in early April that its CER III Fund had acquired in France the first in a planned €2.0 bn investment programme of 100 ‘energy-positive’ Elithis residential towers across Europe. ‘They represent a radical break from traditional mainstream investment risk models that are not fit for purpose in meeting the climatic and societal challenges that lie ahead, towards the concept of ‘anti-fragility’ or ‘Black Swan tail risk’ investing. This is a global first in real estate investment and it is occurring in the largest and most scalable asset class of all –residential property, which is bigger than all equities and fixed income markets combined,’ said Xavier Jongen, managing firector CRIM.
CER III currently has 13 assets located across six European countries. Its strategy is to invest in core European countries including Germany, the Benelux, France, Austria and the Nordics, as well as Spain, Poland and the UK. The Fund is targeting modern, affordable residential properties, including new developments, which provide stable cash flow and offer long-term value growth. Investments include modern living formats such as housing for seniors and students. CRIM’s partner for international client relations is CBRE Capital Advisors, which advised on the latest funding round.
Part of the €4.8 bn Catella Residential Platform, CRIM also manages two further pan-European residential funds, the Catella European Residential Fund with €1.6 bn of AUM, and Catella Wohnen Europa with €1 bn of AUM, on behalf of German institutional investors.
