TOP INVESTORS HIH Group buys and sells €2b of real estate in 2015

HIH Real Estate Group carried out €2 bn of direct property acquisitions and disposals in 2015, doubling the overall transaction volume compared to the previous year.

The Hamburg-based investment manager reported that it acquired €735 mln of real estate during 2015, up from €670 mln in 2014. Its sales programme grew at a much faster rate, as its disposal volume came to €1.29 bn, compared to €320 mln in the previous year.

The strong hike in the disposal volume was driven by both the sale of portfolios and large individual assets. These include the divestments of the N1 shopping centre in the Islington district of London, the office properties, 100 New Bridge Street and Friary Court, in London, and the Haus der Kommunikation in Munich. 'We were very active on the sell-side in 2015 because as part of our cycle-orientated investment strategy we were able to avail of attractive exit opportunities and even achieved double-digit returns, even in London, for our investors,' said Andreas Schultz, managing director of Warburg-HIH Invest.

Over half the €735 mln investment volume was expended on office project developments, including Beethovenstraat 500 in Amsterdam and East Side Office Berlin. Hans-Joachim Lehmann, head of transactions at Warburg-HIH Investment Germany, said that acquiring projects at an early stage was advantageous for investors given the high prices commanded by core assets. 'As an integrated provider of all property related services we have the appropriate in-house expertise to closely follow development projects to completion. In this way we can benefit from the price advantage of buying early while minimising the risks,' he added.

HIH Real Estate Group is a relatively new name based around an established investment businesses. The group was created in April last year when TH Real Estate (formerly TIAA-Henderson Real Estate) sold its 50% share in Warburg-Henderson, a €4.7 bn joint venture in Germany, to Hamburgische Immobilien Handlung (HIH). HIH, in turn, is a property investment company within German banking group MM Warburg & Co. The bank retained the other 50% ownership stake in the former Warburg-Henderson joint venture.

HIH's real estate investment division operates as Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate, which had €5.2 bn of assets under management at end-2015, compared with €5 bn in 2014. The HIH group capital management company consists of 22 alternative investment funds (AIFs) and together with other asset management mandates the group has a portfolio of €6.1 bn under active management.

The overall HIH Group covers portfolio and asset management, property management, leasing and project development. With everything included the group had €11.6 bn of assets under management at end-2015.

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TOP INVESTORS
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PropertyEU is currently compiling its ranking of Top Investors based on transaction volume in 2015. The ranking is based on a survey questionnaire sent to investors and reports such as above by investors on real estate acquisitions and disposal volumes.

Haven’t received a survey request? Please send information on total investment and disposal volumes, plus a list with details of top deals, to Deals Editor Cormac Mac Ruairi at research@propertyeu.info

The ranking is published in March 2016.