Benson Elliot has acquired a portfolio of three regionally dominant German convenience retail assets from Brack Capital Properties for €175m. The vendor has retained a minority stake in the transaction. The portfolio comprises 100,600m² of lettable space across three properties and a parking facility for over 3,500 vehicles. The centres, which serve markets outside the cities of Dortmund, Hanover and Rostock, are long-established and trade area dominant. Tenants include occupiers with high resilience to e-commerce penetration, including leading German grocery chains and DIY operators. Modulus Real Estate, the Hamburg investor and asset manager, supported Benson Elliot in the transaction and will manage the three assets.
Joseph De Leo, Senior Partner at Benson Elliot, said: “This acquisition reflects our continued confidence in market dominant, needs-based retail formats. While there is much debate around the challenges facing the retail sector, these properties are established anchor points for daily shopping needs, resilient to e-commerce growth and of a scale that would make them difficult to replicate today. Moreover, traditional retail sales in Germany are on a positive trajectory, underpinned by favourable economic conditions, including strong real wage growth. As a consequence, assets of this nature, with their robust cash flow generating capacity, continue to be prized by institutional and other investors seeking secure cash flow streams in a low-interest rate environment.”
Carl-Christoph Pieper, Managing Director at Modulus, said: “The portfolio is extremely strong in location quality and local dominance leading to sustainable tenant demand. Although the properties are almost fully let, we will put a strong focus on optimising the tenant set-up in close collaboration with the existing and prospective tenants.”
