Dutch real estate group Bouwfonds Investment Management has put a €250 mln pan-European car park portfolio up for sale, someone close to the deal has told PropertyEU.
‘The portfolio comprises 17 car parks in five European countries – Germany, the UK, France, the Netherlands and Spain,’ he said. ‘All of them are on the high street in key European cities, in locations such as the Champs Élysées in Paris and Mayfair in London.’
First bids are due this week and the portfolio is expected to attract a lot of interest from core, long-income investors. Cushman & Wakefield is marketing the portfolio.
Car parks have emerged from the shadows in the past year to become a popular pick with investors looking to diversify within the alternative real estate sector. That interest was reflected at Expo Real in Munich earlier this month. Speaking at the panel session, ‘Alternative Investments’, Dr. Edgar Zoller, deputy CEO of German lender, BayernLB, said that the über liquidity in today’s market ‘helps to make alternative asset classes, such as car parks, attractive’.
Other panelists also heaped accolades upon car parks. ‘Car parks can generate a better return than an office. And everyone needs to park,’ said Martin Eberhard, country manager, Germany, at Bouwfonds Investment Management, which invests heavily in car parks. Supply is also tight because few new car parks are being built, he said, whereas demand for such assets is growing.
Subsequently, returns are falling and prices are rising, although a car park can still yield a return of around 5.5%, Eberhard said.
Earlier this month Bouwfonds announced that it had raised the full amount of equity for its third institutional car park fund, Bouwfonds European Real Estate Parking Fund III (BEREPF III) and is now closing it. In total, BEREPF III raised €177 mln, around €125 mln of which was raised among institutional investors in recent months as part of a second closing.
The fund’s investment volume will total €350 mln and it will invest in commercially sustainable car parks in Europe, particularly in Germany, the UK, France, the Benelux region and Scandinavia. The fund currently has stakes in four properties.
