Hamburg-based Union Investment Real Estate AG is continuing its strategy of international expansion by boosting its investment activity in up-and-coming overseas property markets. Virtually coinciding with its entry into the Malaysian market, the investment management company acquired two further properties in Central and South America at the start of the year, representing a total investment of some €73 million.
Already active in Latin America since 2005, Union Investment has extended its holdings in the region's promising markets to twelve properties and projects. The new additions to the Latin American portfolio are the Xerox Building in Santiago de Chile, which is fully let to user Xerox Chile and was acquired for the open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Global (ISIN: DE009805556), and Parque Industrial Tecnologico II in Guadalajara, which is likewise fully let.
Comprising around 121,500 m² of rental space, this business and logistics park acquired for UniImmo: Europa (ISIN: DE0009805515) is Union Investment's first venture into the Mexican logistics property market. As Mexico's second largest city after Mexico City, Guadalajara is regarded as the Mexican Silicon Valley, with 60,000 people employed here in the electronics industry alone. Featuring six modern warehouses and good transport links, the park serves the growing requirement for storage space from companies in sectors such as high-tech and production. Parque Industrial Technologico II's international tenants include Intel, IBM, Ferrero and Heinz. Due to the low rate of vacancies in the local logistics market and the park's favourable location on the city's southern ring road, Union Investment expects the long-term reletting prospects to be good. US property developers Hines, who will handle asset management for Union Investment, developed the business and logistics park in several phases between 2001 and 2006 on a 19.2-hectare site.
Source: Union Investment
