7.October.2013
FLE GmbH has successfully continued its expansion into Germany by acquiring an-other hotel property: the A&O Hostel and Hotel in Leipzig. Vienna-based FLE GmbH purchased the property in the Free State of Saxony during the summer of this year. The company, which acts as an investment advisor to the Luxembourg-based real estate fund FLE SICAV FIS (founded in 2008), assumed management of the low-budget hotel on 1 October 2013.
The A&O Hostel and Hotel is located in a listed property in the centre of Leipzig – that being the former imperial post office from the Imperial era. The property has a total floor space of approx. 6,000 m2, divided into the front building and a coach house in the courtyard. The 2-star superior budget hotel and hostel, boasting an un-beatable location just 200 metres from the central railway station and 500 metres from Leipzig city centre, contains 163 rooms and 576 beds. Following an extensive refurbishment and modernisation process, the property has been operating under the name A&O Hostel and Hotel since 2008. A&O Hotel and Hostels Leipzig GmbH is the registered tenant. The lease is set to run until 31/12/2032.
“This redeveloped property in Leipzig is the second hotel property we have acquired this year,” explains FLE fund manager and CEO Dr Alexander Klafsky. FLE GmbH’s additional requirements for potential properties are also fulfilled: “The A&O in Leipzig won us over thanks to its 1a position, excellent access to both public and individual means of transport and an above-average capacity utilisation. It is particularly worth noting that this is our first acquisition of a property in the new federal states outside of our preferred locations in West German urban centres and provincial capitals in Austria.”
Following its acquisition of eight properties in the first three quarters of 2013, FLE GmbH will have achieved its full year target – that of adding a total of eight to ten properties to the Luxembourg-based fund FLE SICAV FIS in 2013 – before Septem-ber had even come to an end. FLE GmbH has already taken over the management of five of these eight properties, while it will assume management of the three re-maining properties, which were acquired during the third quarter, by the end of the year. These properties consist of an office building in Munich with 10,371 m2 worth of leasable space and two retail outlets specialising in local produce. The company was founded in 2007 and its real estate fund currently comprises 40 properties in Germa-ny and Austria, consisting of 60% worth of office buildings, 15% worth of hotels and retail space respectively, and 10% worth of other real estate. A further five property acquisitions are planned for the fourth quarter of 2013.
About FLE GmbH
Founded in 2007 and based in Vienna, FLE GmbH is part of the LFPI Group (La Fi-nancière Patrimoniale d’Investissement), a tradition-conscious French private equity group based in Paris, which currently manages €2.2 billion in fixed assets. The sponsor of the LFPI Group is Lazard, which has been a global leader in financial services and asset management since 1848.
FLE GmbH works as an investment advisor for FLE SICAV FIS, a real estate special fund founded in Luxembourg in September 2008. The fund’s focus is on office and commercial properties as well as low-budget hotels, with a purchasing volume of up to €30 million per single property. FLE manages individual properties with volumes averaging €8 million and 8 to 10 tenants. Investment locations range from Graz and Vienna to Munich, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Leipzig.
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