Swiss asset manager Corestate Capital has announced the acquisition of a portfolio of 31 high-street retail properties in 30 German mid-sized cities for a price of €115 mln.
The portfolio, with an aggregate lettable area of 63,400 m2, is let to several tenants including fashion chains H&M, C&A and New Yorker; department store Woolworth; optician brand Fielmann; as well as drugstore chains dm and Rossmann.
The portfolio has a low vacancy rate of 5%. The assets are all located in cities with a population over 90,000, including Duisburg, Limburg, Mönchengladbach or Schwerin.
'Pedestrian areas represent the heart of many German mid-sized cities,' said
Thomas Landschreiber, Chief Investment Officer of Corestate. 'Strong retail brands such as H&M, dm and Fielmann are well established in these top locations. Our high-street investment strategy focuses on acquiring and managing a large number of well diversified top retail assets.'
The deal follows the launch by Corestate earlier this year of a joint venture with Russian private equity platform Sistema Capital Partners to acquire value-add high-street assets in Germany.
Sistema Capital Partners (SCP) was launched at the end of last year by Sistema JSFC to acquire high-quality assets outside Germany’s Big Seven cities. In November last year it led a consortium to buy 21 retail properties in mid-size cities including Bremen, Essen and Düren, for a total investment of €125 mln.
Swiss-based Corestate Capital Group abandoned plans last year to launch a €150 mln IPO, citing unfavourable trading conditions on the London and Frankfurt stock exchanges.
