Catella Residential Investment Management has acquired around 300 apartments for about €117m, divided between three deals in Aarhus in Denmark, Tilburg in The Netherlands and Hamburg in Germany, under a single investment mandate for a southern German pension fund.
Developed and sold by a consortium of local developers consisting of a building contractor and two private equity companies Aarhus totals 101 homes. The leafy surroundings and good accessibility of the location are expected to particularly appeal to families. In Tilburg, CRIM has acquired a former nunnery converted into an apartment building, with a new residential property added to it in 2017, and located at the heart of the new district centre in Koningsoord. The innovative residential concept, with a total of 99 apartments, is aimed at senior citizens and young professionals and also houses a kindergarden, a restaurant, and an administrative office for residents. The turnkey project development in Hamburg’s HafenCity is located in the Baakenhafen district and was sold by Garbe Immobilien Projekt. The building consists of 93 subsidised and private-rental apartments.
Matthias Bursi, Manager of the CRIM European Residential Fund, said: “Over the past four years we have invested around €500m in residential properties in four European countries under this German pension fund client mandate. The Danish and Dutch investments represent a geographical extension of the portfolio and are aligned with our focus on growing cities and regions that have sound demographic and economic prospects, coupled with an attractive real estate risk-reward profile. By investing in modern residential concepts, such as those that combine serviced apartments for businesses and senior housing, we are ‘future-proofing’ our investments against the rapidly expanding and evolving demand for new forms of housing and living concepts.”
Michael Keune, Managing Director at CRIM, said: “We have also added one of Germany’s top locations to the portfolio with the project development in Hamburg’s HafenCity district. We are very proud to have this opportunity to implement an attractive project on one of the last free construction sites in HafenCity in cooperation with a respected local project developer and to play a small role in shaping Hamburg at this high-profile location.”
