CBRE launches German KVG, club deal for German investors
CBRE Global Investors, a global real estate investment management firm, has launched its own German fund management company (KVG) CBRE Global Investors Kapitalverwaltungsgesellschaft (KVG) having recently obtained the necessary approvals to manage alternative real estate investment funds under German law. This license now enables the German business to launch its first club deal for German Investors.
The investment strategy for the fund is to acquire office and retail properties in Germany’s top seven cities in locations that are expected to benefit from urbanization and in properties with appreciation potential under a “manufacture-to-core” approach.
“We will buy existing properties in urban locations and modernize these through revitalization and repositioning,” said Marius Schöner, country manager of CBRE Global Investors Germany. “In this way, we are able to generate attractive returns while building a long-term core portfolio.”
“With the KVG, we are now able to offer German investors the possibility to invest by way of our own dedicated German fund management vehicle. In this way, we combine our real estate management expertise with the administrative capabilities for running a German real estate fund,” said Schöner.
The fund has already been successful in attracting investment from a club of German investors.
“We have already attracted the interest of German investors and secured first investors for the fund,” said Chris Wood, managing director of CBRE Global Investors with responsibility for the fundraising with institutional investors in Germany. “This is a good start and illustrates that we are bringing something to the German real estate market that investors want.”
As of March 31, 2017, CBRE Global Investors, the independently operated affiliate of CBRE Group, Inc., managed $86.5 billion in assets under management.
The German real estate investment market recorded the strongest H1 result Colliers had seen in the past 10 years with transaction volume just shy of €26 billion ($31 billion), according to Colliers. Germany’s BIG 7 office leasing markets set a new H1 record as well, with take-up of 1.8 million square meters.
Robust macroeconomic fundamentals are driving this strong boom phase. Four years of continuous economic growth and GDP forecasts of roughly 2 percent for another two years are reason enough for tenants and investors alike to look to Germany for stable business investments.
