CWI, SWIP acquire first asset for PURetail fund

Cushman & Wakefield Investors (CWI) and Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) have acquired Kasernenstrasse 1 in the CBD of Düsseldorf, on behalf of the Pan-European Urban Retail Fund (PURetail).

The mixed-use building offers 4,800 m² of refurbished retail and office space and was purchased for just under EUR 20 mln. The building is let to retailers such as Diesel and Mavi Jeans.

'The property is an ideal first purchase for PURetail as it delivers immediate stable cash flow,' said Jens Göttler, the fund's asset manager. 'In addition the asset is significantly under rented and in a location where there is potential for value enhancement following completion of the Metro and therefore offers interesting future potential for the fund.'

'We are delighted to have secured such a high-quality asset as the first purchase for the PURetail Fund in one of our key target cities in Germany. We have a strong deal pipeline and look forward to closing further transactions in our initial target markets of France, Germany and Sweden during the second half of this year,' added Robert Matthews, investment director of Real Estate at SWIP.

Rheinwert Immobilienconsulting advised the fund on the acquisition.

PURetail was launched at the end-March 2011 following a successful first close of EUR 100 mln in equity from three institutional investors. The fund is able to use leverage of up to 50% loan-to-value, providing a total of EUR 200 mln in capital to be deployed in retail assets in the target markets.