Quantum swoops on 700 Berlin residences in Adler deal

The highly sustainable, modern development, with waterfront views, changed hands for a price of around €350 mln according to media reports.

'Wasserstadt Mitte is one of the largest projects in Europacity. We are very pleased that we were able to secure this modern and sustainable quarter in a central location for a new investor,' said Philipp Schmitz-Morkramer, CEO of Quantum.

'With the purchase, we are not only sending a positive signal in challenging times, but are recording one of the largest residential purchases in our company's history,' Schmitz-Morkramer added.

The mixed-use district includes around 47,000 m2 of rental space for residential and commercial use. These are spread over 711 apartments, including 213 co-living apartments, as well as around 3,000 m2 of commercial space for retail, gastronomy and a daycare center.

Three further construction sites in the southern part of Europacity with over 500 apartments and around 2,000 m2 of commercial space have been held by two Quantum funds since 2017. 'With Wasserstadt Mitte, we are further expanding our involvement in Berlin's Europacity. We now manage a total of around 1,200 apartments locally,' added Martin Berghoff, managing director of Quantum.

The transaction took place as part of a share deal. The deal follows an announcement by Adler that it would have to sell swathes of its 26,000-apartment portfolio - especially projects still under construction - to shore up its balance sheet.

At the end of August, Adler revealed that it had devalued its real estate portfolio by €1 bn after its losses deepened in the first half of the year.

Adler's liquidity crisis has been credited to macroeconomic headwinds and accounting failures over the past two years.

Law firm P+P Pöllath + Partners Rechtsanwälte und Steuerberater mbB, WITTE Projektmanagement and CBRE acted in an advisory capacity on the Wasserstadt Mitte deal.