A fund managed by ActivumSG Capital Management Ltd. (ASG), the turnaround specialist focused on German and Spanish real estate investments, has acquired Fairvesta Group, a fund platform for retail investors with approximately €800m of managed assets. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
ActivumSG Fund V has acquired the business headquartered in Tübingen, south-west Germany, from the Knoll family, who founded the company in 2002. Fairvesta manages 14 real estate funds on behalf of about 18,000 individual investors from across Europe. The funds’ portfolios comprise a total of around 150 properties - mainly office and retail buildings in smaller German towns and cities.
Saul Goldstein, ASG’s Founder and Managing Partner, said: “The acquisition of Fairvesta highlights how we find new ways of accessing attractive investment opportunities. Corporate acquisitions are a feature of ASG funds, giving our investors exposure to sectors in great demand while avoiding the asset price inflation of competitive direct investment markets.”
ASG’s predecessor funds have made three other corporate investments in Germany, creating Instone Real Estate by combining formart and GRK, two acquired residential developers. The same fund also purchased one of the largest retirement home developers in Germany, WI Immo.
Fairvesta funds give individual investors access to properties that through hands-on asset management can be repositioned for the next buyers when they are brought back to the market. This “value add” approach is similar in many ways to the strategies of ASG funds, which are structured for institutional investors.
“Now is the perfect time for my wife and me to pass Fairvesta on to the ideal partner to ensure our company’s future,” said Otmar Knoll, who has resigned from the company following its sale.
Fairvesta will continue to operate with its own management team following its acquisition by ActivumSG Fund V.
Richard Wartenberg, Head of Real Estate at ActivumSG Advisory GmbH, said: “We want to take Fairvesta to the next level through this acquisition. We bring an institutional approach and asset management expertise from handling larger and more complex transactions. This will lift fund performance and allow fairvesta to offer attractive investment products in the German real estate market to its customers, ensuring the company continues on its growth path.”
The purchase of Fairvesta is the 11th investment by ActivumSG Fund V. The fund’s other investments include mezzanine financing for various developments in Berlin as well as residential development and land purchases in Spain.
Advising on the purchase of Fairvesta were Deloitte; Noerr, Tortell Smeets & Lange, Rothschild and Savills. The seller was advised by Ernst & Young and TREC Real Estate Consulting.
