GERMANY – German real estate company IVG has acquired a portfolio from an investment fund using equity provided by a pension fund, while Cordea Savills is planning to jump on the KAG Spezialfonds bandwagon.

IVG acquired three office and retail properties in Frankfurt/Main and Berlin using equity provided by an “exclusive investor”, an undisclosed German pension fund.

The properties, purchased from “an investment fund of the Freo Group”, will be added to a Luxemburg-based fund.

The portfolio is worth around €500m, but both parties agreed to keep the exact purchase price confidential.

In its latest market analysis, IVG argued that “asset management will be a key performance driver in the years to come”, as it is no longer enough just to buy a good property.

For 2012, IVG noted that market development had “by no means been as positive as expected”, as there had been “several dips”.

Among them IVG identified a recovery in rents and prices only in the top segment, while a general recovery had yet to materialise.

Further, it pointed out that market transactions had been above the long-term average in 2012 but still below the level of 2011.

However, real estate company Colliers is convinced the demand for commercial property had been above average in 2011 because of several large transactions.

It added the vacancy rate in the office sector reached a new record low in 2012, also because of reduced construction in recent years.

Most analysts remain optimistic about the development of the German real estate market and see a continued demand for German property.

Cordea Savills wants to join in on the KAG business, which is issuing Spezialfonds for institutional investors.

The company confirmed it received the go-ahead for its KAG from the German supervisory authority BaFin and will launch its first products in the first quarter.

Lastly, SEB announced further sales from its open-ended real estate fund, which is currently being dissolved.

Eleven properties in Germany worth around €420m are to be sold to the Dundee International REIT, provided it can obtain financing for the portfolio.

According to SEB, the assets comprise a “broad mix of properties with different locations, age structures, sizes, letting rates and lease terms” in various major German cities.

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