Partners enters Baltics with €163m BPT Optima deal

Swiss private asset manager Partners Group has made its first foray into the Baltics with the acquisition of the bulk of the BPT Optima portfolio for €163 mln.

Zug-based Partners Group has created a new investment vehicle to acquire the package which comprises seven office and retail properties in the Baltic cities of Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipeda, totalling 112,000 m2 of lettable space. The portfolio also includes the Young City urban regeneration site in the Polish city of Gdansk, including the former shipyards on the city's waterfront.

Northern Horizon Capital is the operating partner in the deal, CEO Michael Schönach told PropertyEU. The company will also continue to manage the portfolio.

The transaction marks the largest real estate investment in the Baltics in the post-crisis period, according to market experts. Following the transaction, BPT Optima will still own four assets, which are earmarked for sale as part of the fund's liquidation process.

The vehicle owned €211 mln of gross assets with an occupancy ratio of 87% at end-September 2014.

'The acquired portfolio combines high-quality cash flow generating assets with significant further value enhancement potential and we look forward to working together with Northern Horizon to extract that value. This acquisition follows our investment strategy of buying the tail of maturing quality real estate portfolios in markets with strong fundamentals,' said Fabian Neuenschwander, private real estate professional at Partners Group.

Looking forward to the cooperation with Partners Group, Northern Horizon Capital's Schönach said the group will focus on maximising the value of the portfolio while potentially looking for new investments in the market. 'We constantly look for new opportunities to carry out together with international investors who are interested in opportunities in our region,' he said.

Partners Group is a global private markets manager with over €37 bn in investment programmes under management in private equity, private debt, private real estate and private infrastructure.

Northern Horizon Capital manages eight real estate funds and two separate accounts, totalling more than €1 bn in assets under management.