TMW Pramerica to liquidate open-ended Weltfonds

TMW Pramerica Property Investment, the German arm of Pramerica Real Estate Investors, has announced plans to liquidate its open-ended real estate fund, TMW Immobilien Weltfonds. In a statement on Tuesday, Pramerica said this decision was made 'despite all efforts and upon thorough review of all possible liquidity procurements'.

'With an amenable liquidation and by keeping a value-driven liquidation process of all assets in the portfolio in mind, the management of the fund will be irrevocably terminated as of 31 May 2014', the company said.

Until then, Pramerica will attempt to sell all properties held in the fund, which are valued at about EUR 1.2 bn. France and Germany represent the largest share of the total portfolio, at 20.8% and 19.5% respectively. The Netherlands follows with a 13.6% exposure, as of end-April 2011.

'We are particularly confident, as dispositions will occur via a formal tendering process during the market recovery,' said Sebastian Lohmer, general manager and responsible for portfolio management at TMW Pramerica Property Investment. Klaus Trescher, chairman of the supervisory board of TMW Pramerica Property Investment added that the company will be focused on 'optimizing the returns on investment by generating the best sales revenues possible'. He also pledged to waive the company's sale fees should the sales price of an asset be lower than the appraised value as of May 31, 2011.

The distribution of sales proceeds will be made on a semi-annual basis, with the first distribution to be made in January 2012.

A number of German open-ended real estate funds have recently been put in liquidation including Aberdeen's Degi Europa and Morgan Stanley's P2 Value fund. While the coming months will determine the future of KanAm Grundinvest Fonds, other funds such as AXA REIM's Immoselect fund and SEB ImmoInvest are meanwhile seeking a sale on a vast chunk of their portfolios.