Industry News

IntReal International Real Estate Kapitalverwaltungsgesellschaft mbH (“INTREAL”), Germany’s leading third-party AIFM in the real estate sector, continued to show steady growth during the third quarter of 2023. Over the summer months from July through the end of September, assets under administration (AuA) increased by c. 522 million euros to 65.3 billion euros as of 30 September 2023. It was the first time that the sum total crossed the mark of 65 billion euros. Compared to the figure at year-end 2022...

Niam is pleased to announce the successful acquisition of a prime logistics portfolio in Sweden. The transaction was completed on November 29, 2023. The portfolio comprises three freehold assets with a strong tenant base, strategically located in robust logistics hubs. All properties are modern and generic, with certifications according to GreenBuilding or BREEAM standards. The seller of the portfolio was Savills Investment Management on behalf of its Nordic Logistics Fund. Source: press release received on 30 November 2023.

Union Investment has sold the Fifty-One office building in Zurich on behalf of open-ended real estate fund Unilmmo: Europa. The buyer is Swiss Prime Site, Switzerland’s biggest listed real estate company. Fifty-One is located in the Zurich West submarket, a former industrial zone that has been transformed into an attractive, modern residential and office location in recent years. Completed in 2011, the property at Pfingstweidstraße 51 was acquired by Union Investment for the fund in 2009 as a development project...

M&G Real Estate, part of M&G’s €86 billion private markets’ business, has made a forward funding commitment to a €41.7 million built-to-rent scheme in Leiden, an academic and entrepreneurial hub in the Netherlands. The deal is on behalf of the M&G European Living Property Fund - launched in January this year - and marks the fund’s first investment in the Netherlands. The scheme, known as “MORE5”, developed by Amsterdam-based developer Lingotto, will consist of 206 multi-family apartments and 178 square...

Real I.S. is one of the leading pan-European asset managers based in Germany. The company has received the Scope award 2024 for the Best Asset Manager Institutional Real Estate Europe. The jury’s citation included praise for Real I.S.’s commitment to environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors as a successful pan-European asset manager: "The consistent performance delivered by the European investment funds is remarkable (...). The successful development of the ESG strategy is also commendable – and Real I.S.’s targets...

BNP Paribas Real Estate has appointed James Barrett as national head of affordable housing. Barrett will be based in the Bristol office, and joins from Lifestory Group where he held the role of senior land manager, and was responsible for acquiring development sites across the South West for the creation of high quality later living apartments. Prior to this, he was senior land manager (southern region) at Clarion Housing Group (CHG) where he sourced residential development sites capable of accommodating...

Global asset manager DWS has appointed Ulrich Steinmetz as head of real estate transactions for Europe. Christian Baecker has taken over Steinmetz’s responsibility as head of portfolio management real estate retail, in particular for the German real estate retail funds business. Ronen Ribak has been appointed to a newly created position as head of value-add real estate for Europe. Steinmetz, who joined DWS in 2002 covering real estate transactions for North America, South America, Asia Pacific and the UK, has...

Professional services and investment management company Colliers has appointed Achim Degen as CEO of the firm in Germany, reporting to Davoud Amel-Azizpour, CEO, EMEA. Degen is currently managing director in Munich and succeeds Matthias Leube, formerly CEO & head of capital markets, Germany, who has mutually agreed with Colliers to leave the company to pursue other endeavours. Degen has 34 years of experience at Colliers in Germany as an expert in capital markets, office letting and development consulting. He was...

The real estate multi-manager business of UBS Asset Management has anchored a UK residential income fund managed by Matter Real Estate. Matter said UBS had provided an initial £105 million (€121 million) to Matter UK Residential Income Fund (MUKRIF), a new vehicle that will invest in core single-family assets. The fund has been seeded with assets from Matter portfolio company Placefirst, which will also continue as a property manager. The fund’s initial assets include over 560 single-family rental homes located...