Encore+ has made its fifth acquisition in Germany, the office complex Galluspark 15-19 in Frankfurt am Main, for €39.2m.
Encore+ is a pan-European open-ended Core+ fund, co-managed by Aviva Investors as Fund Manager and LaSalle Investment Management as Asset and Transaction Manager. The Fund continues to enjoy significant momentum in both capital raising and deployment, with total assets of more than €1.3bn under management.
The building is a seven-storey office complex with three wings, connected by two extensive atriums. The asset has around 18,700 m² of leasable space, with a standard floor plate of 3,400 m² The Gallus district is to the west of Frankfurt city centre, around the Mainzer Landstrasse, one of the most important arterial roads in the west of the city. Downtown Frankfurt is just three stops away on the S-bahn. As such, it benefits from very good transport connections and a good variety of amenities on offer in the immediate neighbourhood.
Encore+ has a successful 11-year track record as a diversified, open-ended Continental European real estate fund, delivering stable and growing income alongside long-term capital appreciation, from an actively-managed portfolio. The three-year annualised return for the Fund is more than 9.2% (as at 30 June 2017).
Jeffrey King, Fund Manager for Encore+ at Aviva Investors, said: “Frankfurt is one of the key strategic European target markets for Aviva Investors as a “future-proof” city where people want to live, work, play and learn. Gallus in particular is a submarket that has benefitted from a significant amount of both public and private investment and an increasingly affluent population. This acquisition increases our holdings in Germany, which is in line with the Fund’s strategic objectives, while adding strong quality income from two globally active tenants.”
Ian Williamson, Investment Manager for Encore+ at LaSalle Investment Management, said: “I am delighted that we have acquired this office building in Frankfurt, one of the highest ranked cities on LaSalle’s E-REGI Index of investable European cities. This is the third acquisition we have closed for the Fund in 2017 to date, and one which we forecast to deliver strong investment performance. The low rental levels and grade A specification building provide a strong platform for capturing rental growth as part of our business plan.”
