Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM) has acquired four standing assets in key European cities including Brussels, Geneva and Berlin for approximately €60 mln on behalf of the Catella European Residential Fund III (CER III).
The deals follow a new equity raise of €125 mln in April from a Dutch pension fund and German Institutional client, and €55 mln in August from two German institutional clients. The fund’s pan-European residential strategy focuses on affordable housing and undersupplied sub-segments.
In Brussels, CER III has bought a residential building dating from 2005 comprising 65 modern apartments and 70 indoor parking spaces for approximately €25 mln. Most of the apartments are let and range in size from 41 to 173 m2. The closing of the transaction is expected to take place at the end of August.
Patrick Au Yeung, fund manager for CER III, said: 'We are pleased our fund continued to attract new capital during the Covid-19 lockdown and we expect the strong interest from institutional investors will continue.
'Brussels is one of the key targets for our European residential strategy due to its importance as a financial centre and the capital of the European Union. The inner-city residential market in Brussels consists of a great diversity of old and new apartments.'
The other three assets acquired by CER III are located in the French border town of Ornex, just nine kms from Geneva, and also in Berlin and Potsdam.
Xavier Jongen, managing director CRIM added: 'Geneva suffers from a huge shortage of housing which continues to drive up the prices of owner-occupied homes as well as rental levels. This phenomenon has pushed many local Swiss as well people of other nationalities working in Geneva to the French side of the nearby border.'
In Ornex, CER III has bought a complex comprising 33 semi-detached houses and 12 apartments for €20 mln.
In Potsdam, the capital of the federal state of Brandenburg located to the southwest of Berlin, CER III has acquired two existing properties in the Gartenstraße in the Babelsberg district for around €10 mln. One of the buildings dates from 1911 and was extensively refurbished in the last 10 years. The other property is relatively new and was built in 2014.
CER III has also acquired a recently renovated residential building in Berlin from a local project developer of residential condominiums for €3.2 mln. Also dating from 1911, the property is located in the Berlin district of Marzahn-Hellersdorf and consists of 10 residential units covering a total surface area of 989 m2 over two buildings.
CBRE Capital Advisors acts as placement agent for Catella Residential Investment Management GmbH in jurisdictions outside Germany.
