NEINVER raises €480m for pan-European retail fund

The property developer has raised the largest ever pan-European private equity real estate fund sponsored by a Spanish firm.

NEINVER has raised €480 million ($625 million) for the IRUS European Retail Property Fund, which will aim to purchase up to €1.4 billion worth of assets on the continent.

Factory-outlet and retail park specialist NEINVER is seeding the fund with six properties. They include five assets trading under the “Factory” brand name, including two in properties in Madrid and one each in Sevilla, Porto and Warsaw. The other asset is Parco Commerciale Vicolungo, located outside Milan.

In a statement, NENIVER said it would invest in further properties over a four-year period as well as in the company’s pipeline of future developments. The company is targeting factory outlets, retail parks and standalone retail properties.

Manuel Lagares, managing director of NEINVER, said: “The establishment of the fund will not only position NEINVER as one of the most important players in the development of retail real estate in existing markets but will also allow NEINVER to position itself as one of the leading pan-European real estate operators in both the outlet and retail sectors as a whole.”

Finnish local government pension fund Keva and ABP, Europe’s biggest pension fund, are reportedly investors in the new fund. Other investors include the Dutch insurer Achmea, Arlington, Sparinvest, Schroders, Richard Ellis and Merchant Holding.

Pension funds are increasingly investing in pan-European property funds in order to diversify outside their domestic markets.

Last week, the head of Norway’s Government Pension Fund, Knut Kjaer, told the International Herald Tribune that it plans to put ten percent of its funds into real estate and infrastructure.