Sistema Capital Partners, the real estate private equity platform launched earlier this month by diversified holding company Sistema JSFC, has led the consortium acquisition of a portfolio of German high street retail properties for €125 mln.
Sistema Capital Partners, the real estate private equity platform launched earlier this month by diversified holding company Sistema JSFC, has led the consortium acquisition of a portfolio of German high street retail properties for €125 mln.
The 21 properties are located in the following mid-sized cities: Bremen, Gotha, Cuxhaven, Flensburg, Celle, Schwerin, Merseburg, Flensburg, Mönchengladbach, Düren, Gelsenkirchen, Delmenhorst, Dinslaken, Minden, Oberhausen, Gießen, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Gladbeck, Bad Homburg vor der Höhe and Hagen.
The portfolio comprises 56,300 m2 of space and the average vacancy rate for the buildings is about 3%.
The deal kickstarts SCP’s investment programme, which will target assets in the most liquid international real estate markets, beginning in Europe, said CEO Marjorie Brabet-Friel.
‘Sistema Capital Partners’ strategy is to secure a pipeline of proprietary deals that it then opens up to other like-minded institutional and high net worth investors, who have a hands-on approach in keeping control of their investments,’ she said. ‘In general we aim to exit our investments within a four-year timeframe.’
The €125 mln acquisition price will be financed with more than 60% of debt. Additional transactions are scheduled for completion during the first quarter of 2016.
SCP said that institutional investors have generally overlooked individual high street properties outside the Big Seven cities because of their small size and the low liquidity that results. SCP is assembling a substantial high quality portfolio of assets in these mid-sized cities that through its scale will close the pricing gap.
SCP invests Sistema’s own capital in domestic and international real estate, while also acting on behalf of co-investors including institutional and high net-worth investors from around the world.
Sistema JSFC is a London- and Moscow-listed diversified holding company with investments worth around $19 bn which operates primarily in Russia and the CIS.
