EURO NEWS: Onwards and upwards

Patrizia Immobilien, the real estate investment manager, stated at the beginning of the year that its primary focus for 2016 was to expand its international remit, as well as continuing its annual strategy of increasing its total assets under management (AUM) by €2 billion year-on-year.

Three-quarters of the way into 2016, Patrizia is on track to fulfill both objectives. In July, the Augsburg, Germany-based firm was awarded a €400 million mandate by Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK), Germany’s largest pension fund, to create a pan-European property portfolio. The BVK mandate, or separate account, is a reflection of the firm’s track record in numerous sectors and geographies, which makes it an attractive partner for institutional investors such as the German pension fund, according to Patrizia’s chief executive officer, Wolfgang Egger.

“Due to the increasingly complex characteristics driving profitable real estate investments, the requirement for an internationally experienced manager across all property types, who is able to professionally identify and manage real estate, is more important than ever before,” said Egger.

In July, the investment manager bought a German office portfolio for €400 million, which was followed 10 days later by the acquisition of a retail portfolio in the same country for €200 million. The two deals brought in a combined total of 2.4 million square feet of real estate into Patrizia’s overall portfolio. So far in 2016, it has sealed further deals for assets in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland and Spain.

Meanwhile, the company raised over €900 million of equity from institutional and private clients during the first half of 2016 and launched its first pan-European logistics real estate fund in August. This also has helped Patrizia to grow its AUM from €11.6 billion in 2011 to €17.2 billion as of June 30, and it is projecting a total of €18.6 billion by year end.