Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate to invest €300m in German office properties

Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate has plans to set up a new business unit and plans to invest €300 million ($335 million) in German office properties marked by value-add and rental upside potential before the end of the year.

“In a dedicated effort, we will upgrade the properties, eliminate vacancies, bring them up to the market level within three to five years, and dispose of them afterwards,” said Hans-Joachim Lehmann, managing director of Warburg-HIH Invest. “We will limit these activities to the Big Seven cities, which are subject to keen demand among investors and tenant leads.”

With its new business unit, Warburg-HIH Invest will expand its product spectrum, which so far used to be focused on properties of the core and core+ type.

“Insurance companies, pension funds and superannuation schemes increasingly demand investment opportunities that will help them offset the current yield compression in the prime property segment,” said Alexander Eggert, managing director at Warburg-HIH Invest.The new business unit will be headed by Daniel Werner. The new head of transaction management value-add Germany is transferring from HOCHTIEF Projektentwicklung, where he most recently served as head of branch in Hamburg and had the overall responsibility for the operating activities in town. Werner brings more than 20 years of experience to the job and has been active in the property development sector for the past 14 years.