German fund manager HIH Invest Real Estate has acquired another day nursery for its Zukunft Invest open-ended special alternative investment fund.
Financial details were not disclosed.
The asset represents a new building in Duisburg that was constructed by Terra, a property developer specialising in day nurseries.
The nursery has a total lettable area of 1,066 m2, and accommodates 95 children in six groups. A lease agreement has been signed with the tenant Step Kids Education for a 30-year term.
Jens Nagelsmeier, head of transaction management retail & healthcare at HIH Invest, commented: 'Daycare properties have become an established asset class in their own right on the market, and are subject to strong demand because of their long-term security of income.
'However, their ownership structure is very heterogeneous: Day nurseries are often held by private owners whose portfolios include only one or two assets. There are no brokers or estate agents yet who specialise in these.
'Accordingly, our acquisition efforts are concentrating on suitable new-build and conversion projects. In Terra Projektentwicklung, we found an experienced partner, with whom we would like to deepen our collaboration in order to ensure a dynamic further development of our investment fund.'
The day nursery is located in Duisburg-Hochheide, a densely populated residential area, on a plot of 2,113 m2 with open areas designed specifically for children.
Numerous shopping venues lie within easy walking distance, and the bank of the Rhine River is also just a short walk away. Driving time to the inner city is about 15 minutes.
Compared to the other German states, North Rhine-Westphalia, where Duisburg is located, has the greatest care gap in regard to day nursery spots - i.e. the difference between the number of places actually needed and the number of children actually cared for. The gap amounts to 19% in NRW, and is topped only by the city state of Bremen om 20.2%.
The legal and tax due diligences for the transaction were conducted by the law firm of Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek in Hamburg. The technical due diligence was performed by ES Enviro Sustain GmbH from Berlin.
