TLG IMMOBILIEN has spent €85.9m ($95.6m) on two retail property assets in Germany.
The firm said it bought the Bahnhofs-Passage property in Bernau near Berlin for €50.3m and the Handelscentrum Strausberg centre for €35.6m.
The 27,100 sqm Bahnhofs-Passage, built in 1996 and 2006 in two phases, generates €4m in net rent.
The property is almost fully let, with lease lengths averaging around four years.
The 26,000 sqm Handelscentrum Strausberg, built in stages between 1993 and 2007, is also nearly completely let, with annual rents worth €3m.
Niclas Karoff, a member of TLG IMMOBILIEN AG’s management board, said the properties were in excellent locations and had been established for several years as food retail properties.
Meanwhile, Irish firm Greenman Investments has bought a 29-asset retail portfolio from food retailer EDEKA for €95m, doubling its assets under management.
EDEKA, the main tenant, has an average remaining lease term of 15 years on the 77,500 sqm portfolio, located in Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony.
Five properties are in North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin.
John Wilkinson, chief executive at Greenman, said Greenman had formed a new compartment within its Luxembourg-registered special fund, through which the portfolio was being acquired, before being housed under the Income ONE fund.
WCM Beteiligungs und Grundbesitz has an option to acquire a majority share of the portfolio.
WCM and Greenman are currently reviewing more joint investments.
Moody’s Analytics, in its recent Metro Area Outlook, says Berlin’s labour market has improved, with the jobless rate down to 11.2% in February and bucking the usual seasonal trend in which unemployment rises in winter months.
“Vacancies are rising as companies step up hiring,” the firm said. “Especially in demand are highly skilled workers in electronics, energy and electrical engineering, sales, transport and logistics.
“Also in demand are metal fabrication, mechanical and automotive engineering, and healthcare staff.”
In February, 519,000 jobs were registered with employment agencies, 63,000 more than a year earlier.
The improvement reflects Berlin’s status as one of the high-tech start-up hubs of Germany.
According to the Federal Association of German venture capital firms, investment in ICT start-ups reached a record in 2014, with €2.24bn paid to 362 companies.
Berlin led the 16 German states with 98 funded enterprises, well ahead of Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia, which funded 57 and 50 enterprises, respectively.
