Patrizia Immobilien is seeking to gain a presence in the Dutch market with the takeover of a local team as part of plans to become a pan-European asset management group, PropertyEU has learned.
Patrizia Immobilien is seeking to gain a presence in the Dutch market with the takeover of a local team as part of plans to become a pan-European asset management group, PropertyEU has learned.
'A couple of years ago we set ourselves a goal to enter five core markets in Europe - and the Netherlands is the last remaining country on that list,' Wolfgang Speckhahn, head of strategy and corporate development at Patrizia Immobilien, told PropertyEU.
The company is still in negotiations with a local team, he added, declining to provide further details when he spoke to PropertyEU during the Mipim trade fair in Cannes.
Patrizia, which recently emerged as the fastest-growing real estate investment manager in PropertyEU's ranking of Top 100 Investors in Europe, has been looking to expand its reach in Europe’s core markets for the past three years.
It recently poached ING REIM's managing directors in France, while last year it made an entry into the UK with the purchase of London-based real estate investment and asset management company Tamar Capital Group. The company also has a presence in Luxembourg and the Nordics, with operations in Denmark and in Sweden.
DOUBLING AUM
In the past 18 months, the Augsburg-based company has seen its assets under management more than double to €12 bn following three mammoth acquisitions in Germany. Patrizia is also seeking to expand its foreign investor base which has almost doubled in the past 18 months, CEO Wolfgang Egger recently told PropertyEU. 'Patrizia can act as an intermediary - not only between German or foreign capital and real estate markets and vice versa, but also between different foreign European markets. Institutional investors are increasingly recognising the advantage of this.'
In 2012, Egger said he aimed to boost Patrizia's AUM to €10 bn by 2015. That target has already been exceeded. Asked whether he could provide a new target for the next two to three years, Egger said: 'Size is not a value in itself. For us, it's about quality. We see ourselves as a pension fund that invests its own equity exclusively in real estate through many different co-investments. And we give other pension funds the opportunity to co-invest with us. Patrizia has grown continuously in recent years. We are now positioned to be able to grow organically by €1 bn each year. As a result, we have reached a size that allows us to have a local presence in the different markets and offer country-specific investment vehicles. This means that we can offer investors the platform that matches their wishes and requirements.'