Peakside Capital has acquired a portfolio of 14 mainly office assets in Germany from two institutional sellers. The portfolio comprises city centre properties with 37,000m² of lettable space, located in Berlin, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Hannover as well as strong secondary cities such as Munster and Erlangen.
The acquisition follows Peakside Capital’s recent c. €110m capital raising for PREF III. This was achieved just five months after the initial closing of PREF III and represents almost 75% of the €150m total equity raising target which will provide over €500m of investment firepower.
The newly acquired office portfolio investment is fully in line with PREF III´s value-add strategy, including reducing capex back-logs as well as enhancing occupancy and lease terms by leasing-up vacant space and re-gearing expiring leases. Peakside Capital will draw on its track record in transforming properties by redeveloping, revitalising and repositioning them into core assets before disposal. Peakside Capital has set up an experienced and dedicated asset management team together with Munich-based asset manager, Marienburg Real Estate, to focus on the execution of the business plan.
Boris Schran, founding partner of Peakside Capital, commented: “We were able to secure a portfolio of good and fundamentally institutional assets in need of focussed asset management and lease-up activities for an attractive entry price well below replacement costs. Our strategy is to sell individual assets or sub-portfolios given the attractiveness of the assets. They are the right size and, once stabilised and leased up, will fit the core profile of long-term and distribution income investors, who are not competing for nation-wide portfolios but are looking for more regional opportunities for direct investment.”
Stefan Aumann, founding partner of Peakside Capital, added:“We are experiencing great momentum having acquired this attractive seed portfolio shortly after the initial closing of PREF III. We expect more acquisitions on behalf of PREF III by the end of the year, building an attractive seed portfolio prior the final close of PREF III. The success of our predecessor fund, PREF II, continues to benefit our fund-raising efforts for PREF III. Investors have become increasingly open to value-add strategies and we have earned a reputation and track record in this space.”
The sellers were advised by PWC and Arnecke Sibeth while Peakside Capital was advised by Greenberg Traurig, HauckSchuchardt and Drees & Sommer.
