Prelios plans to launch the ‘Prelios German Retail Property Fund Germany’ with a targeted volume of around €280m for German and international institutional investors. The LTV ratio is to be 35 to 40% maximum. The closed-end fund with Luxembourg structure will pursue a Core+ investment strategy, according to the plans. It focuses on inner-city and out-of-town shopping centres, Fachmarktzentren, department stores and high street retail units with a property volume of €20m or higher in Western German cities with a catchment area of at least 100,000 persons and Berlin. Approval for the fund by the Luxembourg financial regulatory authorities is estimated by mid-2016. The fund is expected to start operationally at the beginning of 2017.
Nico Tates, head of investment management at Prelios, explained: “Prelios will pursue a Core+ investment strategy for ‘Prelios German Retail Property Fund Germany’. That means we will exclusively invest in underperforming properties with upward-potential. We plan to invest whenever we identify significant value-add potential through optimisation and repositioning.
“The fund management expands Prelios’ existing range of services in Germany to include an additional attractive investment opportunity for institutional investors. As one of the few providers, Prelios is able to offer all relevant services in-house and has a track record in refurbishment and the management of retail real estate as well as an experienced fund management team. We expect to start operationally from early 2017.”
Under the management of Nico Tates, the Frankfurt-based team will cover the services ‘Investment Management’ and ‘Separate Account Investment Management.’ The ‘Separate Account Investment Management’ service is geared towards investors who want to invest in commercial real estate in Germany, but do not have their own investment platform or staff. Prelios Immobilien Management actively concluded transactions with a total volume of around €3.6bn between 2009 and 2015. The parent company Prelios manages 29 funds in Italy with a total volume of more than €3.5bn AUM. In Germany, Prelios currently manages some €2bn assets under management.
