BVK to invest €1b in real estate developments in Austria

Signa Financial Services AG will invest €1 billion ($1.2 billion) in Austrian real estate for Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK), the €72 billion ($83 billion) German pension fund manager, via a fund launched by Universal-Investment.

Initially, the fund will acquire four residential projects from the Signa development portfolio at three locations in Vienna. The portfolio, with a total rental space of around 56,000 square meters (603,000 square feet), comprises more than 900 high-quality rental units. The four projects are currently under construction.

It all starts with the high-quality residential complex “5in22” in the Donaustadt, which already became the property of the fund at the beginning of October 2018.

The completion of the other three developments is planned for 2020. By mid-2020, the two projects “Donaumarina 1 and 2”, in the immediate vicinity of the local recreation area Prater and the Vienna University of Economics, will be taken over. The launch portfolio will be completed at the end of 2020 with the residential tower “Wohnen am Schweizergarten”, which will be built directly at the new Vienna Central Station.

The fund will subsequently invest in commercial real estate, in particular offices and retail properties, in addition to other residential properties. In addition to real estate from Signa projects, there are also project developments or existing properties that will be acquired from the entire market.