Greenman Investments has become the first Irish investment company to receive full authorisation as an Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM).

Greenman Investments has become the first Irish investment company to receive full authorisation as an Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM).

The fund manager focuses on building retail property portfolios in Germany.

The AIFM licence allows the Irish company, with offices in Dublin, Luxembourg and Berlin, to offer funds to investors in Ireland, the UK, Germany, France and Luxembourg. In addition, Greenman is now also entitled to passport management services such as asset and wealth management for EU-registered investment companies with a Luxembourg fund structure.

Greenman was founded in 2005 by John Wilkinson and William Conolly-Carew to provide Irish investors with the means to access income-producing German real estate investments as well as comprehensive investment management services. The focus of investment is on retail parks with food retailers such as Edeka, Rewe and Kaufland as anchor tenants.

With its funds, 'Greenman Auto', 'Greenman Accelerate' and 'Greenman Retail', Greenman currently manages a portfolio worth around €100 mln consisting of 18 retail parks across Germany with a total rental area of 72,000 m2.

Two more retail funds are in the pipeline for the first half of 2014. The first, 'Greenman Retail+', is geared towards Irish pension funds and professional private investors and aims to collect a total of €50 mln, giving a target fund volume of €90 mln. The second, 'Greenman Income PRO', is Greenman's first attempt at attracting institutional investors from around Europe. Through this fund, Greenman plans to generate investment volume of €150 mln with an equity share of €100 mln.

An interview with Greenman co-founder John Wilkinson appears in the March 2014 edition of PropertyEU Magazine.