Develica lifts German holdings to EUR 1.5 bn

Develica Deutschland, the London-listed German real estate investor, has notarised contracts to acquire a mixed-use portfolio for EUR 45 mln, increasing the company's property assets to over EUR 1.15 bn. The latest transaction involves 12 properties in Central Germany with a floor area of 67,000 m². In a statement, the company said the mixture of retail, office and industrial/logistics buildings generates annual gross rent of EUR 3.3 mln, reflecting a net initial yield of 7.46%.

Chairman Derek Butler commented: 'This acquisition is the culmination of a very busy two months for Develica. We have acquired 34 significant buildings in two major portfolio deals, the latest of which was secured off-market from a vendor we have successfully dealt with before, further enhancing our reputation as a strong and reliable investor. Develica now has gross assets under management of EUR 1.15 bn and is therefore extremely well placed to deliver to shareholders the returns anticipated at flotation last year'.

Develica set itself a target dividend of 6% per annum when it listed on London Stock Exchange's junior Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in May 2006. At the time it announced it had entered into an agreement to acquire an initial portfolio of 39 commercial investment properties located Germany with a total asset value of EUR 1.1 bn.

Referring to the new transaction, Richard Thirkell, Develica's fund manager said: 'This portfolio acquisition blends well into our existing portfolio. It reflects our strategy of focusing on properties with real potential for active management that will enable us to deliver additional income and enhanced asset value. Unusually, we have retained the vendor, on a performance basis, to help us in realise some of those opportunities. There continues to be a strong pipeline of further acquisitions to take us to full initial investment.'