The C$129.7 billion (€98 billion) Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has entered the German real estate market for the first time with the purchase of a shopping mall, Hürth Park, as part of a joint venture with LaSalle Investment Management, for e173.3 million.

“The German real estate market continues to be one of the key markets in Europe and is set to recover significantly with very good investment opportunities,” says David Ironside, managing director at LaSalle Germany, with responsibility for acquisitions in continental Europe. “To take advantage of these opportunities is the order of the day — particularly in the case of a shopping centre with such manifold potential.”

Hürth Park, located south-west of Cologne, has a leas