Cording, Warburg-HIH Invest launch €200m Benelux fund

The Northern Europe-focused property investment firm and the Hamburg-based real estate investment manager will target residential and offices assets valued between €10 million and €40 million in major cities across the region.

Cording Real Estate Group, the Northern Europe-focused property investment firm, and Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate, the Hamburg-based real estate investment manager, have launched a joint €200 million vehicle targeting residential and office assets in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The open-ended fund, Benelux Commercial Real Estate Fund, has been created on behalf of Helaba Invest, the investment arm of Frankfurt-based bank Helaba, and German insurance firm SV SparkassenVersicherung.

The vehicle will target around €200 million of equity but once leverage is factored in Cording and Warburg-HIH will have a total investment capacity of €300 million.

The firms said they will target individual residential and office assets valued between €10 million and €40 million in prime locations and economically strong towns and cities across the region.

Once an asset is acquired, Cording will take over the asset management, including leasing management, of the properties. The projected annual net distribution yield for the fund’s investors is 4 percent.

“Cording is well positioned in Benelux. Its local team, directly on site, can identify, acquire and manage attractive investment properties for the fund. In line with the continuing growth of Cording, we have recently expanded our regional team by appointing four additional real estate professionals,” said Onno Scheij, head of Benelux at Cording.

The fund’s planned investment period, according to a spokesman for Cording, is two years although its lifespan is expected to be around ten years. Preparations for the first acquisitions by the fund are already under way, Cording said.

“We have been active in the Netherlands market for many years and have also invested in the Belgian market. By launching the fund jointly with Cording, we are strengthening our commitment in the Benelux countries and can rely on an experienced partner with a very good local network,” added Andreas Schütz, senior fund manager at Warburg-HIH Invest.

Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate was founded in April 2015 after TIAA Henderson Real Estate sold its 50 percent stake in Warburg-Henderson, a joint venture it set up in 2001 with German bank MM Warburg & Co, to Hamburg-based real estate investment manager HIH Group.