Round Hill Capital has completed the acquisition of a 770-unit residential portfolio in Berlin on behalf of a number of investors.
The properties are located in prime inner city neighbourhoods in the German capital such as Mitte and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. Round Hill said the transaction was part of its strategy targeting residential assets in 15 greater metropolitan areas in Germany.
The investors in the residential portfolio include Bluerock Group and an unnamed international insurance group, Round Hill said. The transaction value was not disclosed. The properties will be managed by Berlin-based Residea Immobilien Management.
Round Hill founder and CEO Michael Bickford said the deal marked 'a cornerstone transaction for Round Hill by acquiring a sizeable portfolio of high quality, well located residential units in Berlin, while growing our integrated residential management platform to accelerate the delivery of our German residential investment management strategy, in line with our vertically integrated strategy in other markets.'
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Simmons & Simmons, PWC, Klein & von Stahl and Trinavis advised Round Hill on the deal.
Round Hill is understood to have around €1 bn of investment capital at its disposal as it looks to establish itself as a major international player in the German rental sector. Last month it announced that it had acquired 114 units in Hamburg.
Round Hill and its affiliates currently manage over 4,000 residential units in Germany and 53,000 properties across Europe. In the late 2000s the company built up a portfolio of around 50,000 German homes before selling them on to other investors.
Round Hill was the driving force behind the €1.6 bn joint venture acquisition of the 31,000-unit Vitus Group from a Blackstone-led group of investors in 2007. Vitus was sold for €1.4 bn in 2014 to Deutsche Annington, which went on to become Vonovia, the largest of Germany's listed residential landlords.
