German investment manager Warburg-HIH Invest has acquired a neighbourhood retail park in the Bavarian town of Elchingen from a private investor.
Financial details were not disclosed.
The main tenants in the 9,300 m2 asset are supermarket giants Edeka and Lidl with 2,700 and 2,100 m2 respectively, and the regional footwear and apparel store Hermann Schuhe und Mode with a 2,300 m2 store.
Having undergone a core-and-shell redevelopment in 2018, the fully occupied property is earmarked for the 'Perspektive Einzelhandel: Fokus Nahversorgung' open-ended special alternative investment fund, Warburg-HIH said.
'The acquisition of this portfolio is helping us consolidate the fund’s performance in the best interest of our investors,' said Thomas Christ, fund manager at Warburg-HIH Invest.
'With eleven properties acquired already and approximately €225 mln in real estate assets now, the fund is invested to almost 60% of the target volume after little more than two years. We still consider food retailing the main anchor of neighbourhood centres because their assortments are essentially immune to encroachment by online retailers,' noted Christ.
Elchingen lies ten kilometres north-east of Ulm and straddles the state boundary separating western Bavaria from Baden-Württemberg. The largest industrial employer in town is Bosch Rexroth with more than 2,330 employees.
'The acquisition marks a consistent continuation of our strategy. With our local retail investment fund, we keep focusing on Germany’s growth regions to ensure attractive properties with bright outlooks in these regions,' said Hans-Joachim Lehmann, managing director or Warburg-HIH Invest.
