News and Press Releases

Munich, 24 September 2020 - Munich-based investment manager Catella Real Estate AG (CREAG) has acquired The Bassin, a 159-apartment student housing complex in Maastricht, built on the initiative of Mulleners Vastgoed. The purchase was made on behalf of the Sarasin Sustainable Properties - European Cities fund (SSP), an institutional fund jointly managed by CREAG and Bank J. Safra Sarasin with AuM over EUR 500 million.

Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management GmbH (CRIM) and Catella Real Estate AG (CREAG), via their AIFM platform together with Catella Asset Management Oy, have acquired a newly completed residential development in Helsinki for the Catella Wohnen Europa (CWE) Fund. This takes the CWE assets under management in Finland to almost €100 million and the vehicle’s total AUM across European markets past the €1.0 billion milestone.

Catella Residential Investment Management GmbH (CRIM) has appointed institutional investment sales specialist, Simon Günkel (43), as an Executive Director in the company’s Berlin office. Günkel joined CRIM on September 1, and will be responsible for institutional clients, including insurers and pension funds.

Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management GmbH (CRIM) and Catella Real Estate AG via their AIFM platform have acquired two residential properties in Berlin and Hamburg for over €90 million on behalf of the Catella Modernes Wohnen Fund. The acquisitions boost the total investment volume of the fund to €300 million.

Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM) has acquired four standing assets in locations in, or close to, leading European cities including Brussels, Geneva and Berlin for approximately €60 million on behalf of the Catella European Residential Fund III (CER III). The deals follow a new equity raise of €125 million in April from a Dutch pension fund and German Institutional client and €55 million in August from two German institutional clients for the fund’s pan-European residential strategy which focuses on affordable housing and undersupplied sub-segments.

From the perspective of the capital markets, the European logistics market is seen as the winner of the pandemic in the medium to long term: the unstoppable "booming e-commerce", intensified by the side effects of an ever-increasing nationwide spread of working from home at the end customer level, but also as a result of the dramatic upheavals among department store providers in Europe, make this mixture a positive situation to investors. In operational terms, the first measurable effects of production relocation are now being felt, and with them a change in location within the European conurbations. All in all, the sector’s resilience and importance make "logistics" a strategic must-have investment at present.

Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM) has significantly expanded the investment volume of the Catella European Student Housing Fund II (CESHF II) to almost €150 million with the acquisition of two student residences in Berlin and Greater Paris for approximately €60 million.

Catella Research has again analysed the European office real estate market in a total of 37 locations in 18 countries. Despite the ongoing corona pandemic, the transaction volume in office real estate in the countries analysed by Catella has remained relatively stable at a total of approximately €39.7 billion. Compared to the previous year, this represents a decline of only approx. 9%. The transaction volume in Luxembourg and Belgium rose disproportionately strongly with an increase of 119% and 115% respectively. In contrast, countries such as Portugal (-74%), Great Britain (-46%) and Ireland (-41%) recorded the sharpest declines.

redos institutional GmbH has acquired a specialist store in Kirchberg (Rhineland-Palatinate) for the fund "redos Einzelhandel Deutschland II" managed by Union Investment, which is let to a food retailer. The seller is Aspen Group. Catella Property acted as advisor to the buyer in the transaction.

Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM) has acquired student housing and general residential developments in Bielefeld and Bad Homburg in Germany for a total of €51 million, under a mandate for a southern German pension fund. CRIM’s investments for the client in this German ‘Spezialfonds’ institutional fund structure have now reached close to €700 million invested in four European countries.  

The project development company PIC REAL ESTATE acquired a commercial property in Nuremberg at the beginning of May 2020 with the support of the funding and investment manager Pegasus Capital Partners. Pegasus Capital Partners supports PIC REAL ESTATE in the transaction in the Franconian metropolis with mezzanine capital. It was agreed to maintain silence about the purchase price as well as about information on the seller. Catella Property acted as exclusive advisor to the seller in the transaction.

Munich, 19 May 2020. AEW, a leading global real estate investment and asset management platform, has completed the second disposal on behalf of Europe Value Partners (“EVP” or the “Fund”), its pan-European value add strategy. The office asset was acquired in December 2018 in a JV with Catella Asset Management Germany (CAM) and was sold to a private German investor.

Catella Research presents a report on COVID-19 implications on the European Real Estate Markets.

Munich, 8 May 2020. Munich-based investment manager Catella Real Estate AG (CREAG) has added a new residential project in Rotterdam to the portfolio of Sarasin Sustainable Properties - European Cities (SSP).  SSP fund is a product of Catella Real Estate AG in cooperation with the Bank J. Safra Sarasin. The seven-storey Asterlo tower comprises 51 apartments and is located in the heart of Zuidwijk, a suburb in the south of the Dutch port city, close to the Feijenoord soccer stadium.

Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM) and Catella Real Estate AG (CREAG) have acquired two residential real estate developments in Berlin and Madrid via their AIFM platform for a total of €75 million. These two transactions increase the total investment volume of their Catella Wohnen Europa (CWE) Fund to over €975 million.

Munich, May 5, 2020 - Catella Real Estate AG (CREAG) has engaged Wolfgang Holzberger and is expanding its investment and fund strategy to include logistics and industrial real estate: As of May 2020, the 50-year-old Holzberger will take over as Head of Logistics Investment Management, building up a logistics team at the Munich-based investment manager.

Munich, May 5, 2020 - Catella Real Estate AG (CREAG) has engaged Wolfgang Holzberger and is expanding its investment and fund strategy to include logistics and industrial real estate: As of May 2020, the 50-year-old Holzberger will take over as Head of Logistics Investment Management, building up a logistics team at the Munich-based investment manager.

Many investors have taken the view that residential property will be more resilient to the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak than other asset classes, and the sector has continued to be relatively busy, with a number of large deals being completed in recent weeks, Xavier Jongen, managing director at Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM), told a webinar hosted by REFI Europe last week. CRIM has itself been raising capital, he noted, adding that investor appetite for residential assets remains strong. “We’ve raised a little more than €300 million in the last four weeks and inflows precisely matched our expected pipeline, despite the current crisis.” Affordable housing was already a big topic before the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis and Jongen believes that focus will intensify as a result of the pandemic which has put the spotlight on the needs of nurses, police, public transport employees and other low-income front-line workers. But although residential is being seen as a safe haven, it is not all plain sailing for the sector, he added, pointing out that the distribution channel of the crisis affects residential cash flows. “The pandemic will prompt a re-evaluation of approaches to affordability and sustainability, but also to co-living,” he concluded.

The French cities of Dijon and Saint-Etienne have become the first metropolises to approve the development of highly sustainable ‘energy-positive’ residential towers under a €2.0 billion pan-European investment programme launched by Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM) and France’s building engineering design company Elithis.

Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management’s (‘CRIM’) CER III Fund has received €125 million from two new institutional investors; €100 million from a large Dutch pension fund and €25 million from a leading German fund manager, bringing its total capital commitments to €235 million. These latest commitments bring the Fund closer to its mid-term target of €1 billion in assets under management on the way to establishing a multi-billion open-ended investment vehicle across European residential real estate markets. The successful double-signing follows a first close in May 2019 when CRIM’s maiden pan-European residential fund opened to international investors. CRIM already manages the €1.5 billion Catella European Residential Fund and €900 million Catella Wohnen Europa Fund open to German investors in comparable strategies.

Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM) and Catella Real Estate AG (CREAG) via its AIFM platform, have acquired three innovative residential projects in Vienna and Vitoria, northern Spain, and Hamburg for approximately €147 million. Together, the three transactions boost the total investment volume of their flagship Catella European Residential (CER) Fund to around €1.5 billion.

The economic phase that lies ahead of us will undoubtedly become more volatile and recessive, and analysts will again discuss the "V", "U" or "L" formations that pictorially describe this economic environment in the coming weeks. We also like to work with pictures and have therefore analysed the German office property markets again in our Office Market Map 2020. 

The world around us is currently changing dramatically, but continuity should also determine our future actions. One component of our claim to information on the markets for you is to continue with what is tried and tested. Once again, Catella Research has analysed the commercial residential real estate market of 59 cities in 19 European countries. 

Much, perhaps too much, is currently being written about the German residential real estate markets, but with less substantial content. With our annual residential property map on rents & yields at 81 locations, we would like to contribute a little more substance in the form of figures & values to the charged discussion on rent caps & co.

Munich, 05.03.2020 Catella Real Estate AG has acquired a residential and commercial building in the city centre of Fürth for its special fund "Catella Bavaria", which focuses on the state of Bavaria. The special fund, which was launched at the end of 2016, now manages assets under management with a value of more than EUR 100 million.

Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM) has significantly expanded the portfolio of the Catella European Student Housing Fund II (CESHF II) with three acquisitions of student residences in Austria, France and Spain totalling €55 million.

Once again, a look back at the outstanding performance of the real estate markets meets an economy that has been running smoothly so far in the first quarter of 2020, but also shows signs of a more cautious approach.

In recent months, we have been reading a lot about increasing geopolitical risks on the markets. This is how it is felt, or at least this impression is reinforced, if you read the headlines superficially. Are the risks really getting bigger?

The Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management GmbH (CRIM) has expanded the portfolio of the Catella Modernes Wohnen mutual fund to 8 properties via the KVG platform Catella Real Estate AG (CREAG) by purchasing a project development in Braunschweig for EUR 20 million. Catella Modernes Wohnen focuses on modern forms of living in German and European growth regions.

Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management GmbH (CRIM) achieved an overall performance of 11.3% in 2019 for its specialist-focused  European Student Housing Fund (CESHF), an open-ended investment vehicle  for institutional investors. The strong investment returns last year were generated through an active portfolio management strategy. That included the sale of a property in Dresden for a significant capital gain and the acquisition of an asset in Vienna, which added a sixth country to the Fund‘s international portfolio.