Grainger, the largest UK-listed residential landlord, has sold most of its remaining holdings in Germany to Duesseldorf-based peer LEG Immobilien for €53 mln, a discount of €3.7 mln on the last recorded book value.
The 1,100 residential units are located in North Rhine-Westphalia, a core market for LEG. The portfolio generated rental income of £3 mln (€3.8 mln) and a pre-tax loss of £2.7 mln in the last financial year. LEG assumed €20 mln of debt as part of the transaction.
'We are pleased to be concluding our divestment programme in Germany, enabling Grainger to focus its full attention on its stated strategy of investing in the UK private rented sector,' said Grainger CEO Helen Gordon.
Grainger owned £2.8 bn of residential property across the UK at end-September 2015, and managed a total of 20,000 properties worth £3.4 bn on its our own behalf and for its clients. The company began withdrawing last year from the German market in which it lacked scale. It had already carried out €225 mln of divestments before the transaction with LEG. Half of the remaining €190 mln of properties are under offer with prospective buyers.
Grainger is the only listed residential specialist in the UK. In contrast, housing landlords, in terms of number of companies, assets under management and market capitalisation, dominate the German listed sector. The largest German landlords are Vonovia (370,000 units), Deutsche Wohnen (148,000) and LEG Immobilien (130,000).
