European adviser, asset and investment manager CR said on Thursday that it has completed the sale of the entirety of the loans underlying the Amelia portfolio to a fund managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management.
CR was appointed by the borrower with the consent of the lending syndicate in July 2015 to sell the package, which at the time consisted of 55 properties totalling 554,986 m2.
With €600 mln of assets by value, the portfolio was said ot be one of the largest remaining portfolios from the pre-crisis era. Prior to the sale of the loans and in its role as asset manager, CR advised on the sale of several of the portfolio’s assets, as well as the management of the corporate structure.
The remaining loans, which were secured against 41 predominantly office properties across Germany, have now been acquired by Apollo's European Principal Finance Fund II (EPF), which invests primarily in commercial and residential mortgages, performing and non-performing loans, and unsecured consumer loans across Europe.
'The transaction was win-win for both the sellers and the buyer. The lending syndicate exited via a single transaction and far earlier than expected, while Apollo gained exposure to a portfolio of high-quality assets,' said Jacob Lyons, managing director of CR.
Dominik Jais, partner in Apollo's European Principal Finance Funds, added: 'This deal highlights Apollo’s deep expertise and long history of value creation and is an important pillar in our overall strategy for investing in core segments of the European property market.'
