Vienna/Stuttgart/Hamburg, 23 February 2015.
As part of an active portfolio optimisation, the LFPI Group – an independent and international multi-asset manager with assets of more than 3 billion euros under management – has sold five properties with a total transaction value of about 25 million euros via FLE GmbH, its subsidiary that specialises in commercial real estate and hotels. These are two properties in Vienna (Auerspergstrasse 17, Moeringgasse 10), a school in Baden near Vienna (Wiener Strasse 9), an office in Stuttgart at Hasenbergstrasse 31 as well as an office and restaurant in Hamburg at Brandsende 6-10. All of the divestments were signed off on at the turn of the year 2014/2015 and conclude a highly active and enormously successful investment year in the German and Austrian market. All of the real estate was purchased by private buyers.
The properties were bought between 2008 and 2011 and successfully developed or optimised for sale through extensive asset management measures – in the building in Stuttgart, for example, the spaces were newly divided and designed. As a result, the temporarily created vacant space of about 860 square metres could be fully rented within a minimal time period.
Dr Alexander Klafsky, CEO of FLE, comments on the latest divestments: “This successful sale reflects the current market demand for upscale properties in attractive locations. We have set ourselves the goal of building up a diversified portfolio of exactly this kind of real estate and achieving sustainably attractive yields for our investors. In addition to the continuing identification of real estate that corresponds entirely to our investment criteria, we are also systematically and thoroughly analysing our portfolio to determine the potential of a successful divestment and optimise the portfolio through adjustments.” He added: “We purchased the office building on Moeringgasse, Vienna, and the school in Baden near Vienna back in 2008 at the beginning of our investment activities. FLE is pursuing a long-term investment approach that we will use as a framework to manage the acquired properties over the years to fully develop their potential. As investors, however, we are always owners for a limited time. We are currently seeing high demand for very well located and high- quality real estate and therefore completed this divestment at a favorable time.”
Last year alone, the LFPI Group purchased a total of 12 properties through its subsidiary FLE, which are located in such cities as Heidelberg, Hamburg, Regensburg, Munich and Frankfurt on the Main. This has increased the existing portfolio of the LFPI Group in the real estate area to a total of 54 assets in Germany and Austria. The team plans to continue its active investments in the German market in the new year. As Dr. Klafsky states in conclusion: “We have a full pipeline of investment opportunities and are very confident that we will continue our investment activities at an equally high level in 2015.”
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About FLE GmbH
Founded in 2007, the Vienna-based company FLE GmbH belongs to the LFPI Group, a leading independent multi-asset manager in Europe with more than 3 billion euros in assets under management. The LFPI Group offers its clients investment opportunities in the asset classes of private equity, real estate, debt and asset management. The geographic focus is on the regions of Europe, North America and Africa. As an investment adviser of the LFPI Group, FLE GmbH handles the Group’s real estate investments in the DACH region. The investments focus on office and commercial properties as well as low-budget hotels. The investments are generally made as equity investments with a volume of up to 40 million euros per single object in large and medium-sized German cities as well as in the metropolitan area of Vienna. The growing interest of institutional investors in Germany along with the attractive investment objectives in this country have led to the intensification of FLE’s investment activities. www.fle.co.at
About the LFPI
Group With more than 3 billion euros of assets under management, the independent partner-owned LFPI Group is one of the leading multi-asset managers in the world. The LFPI Group offers its clients investment opportunities in the asset classes of private equity (direct investments, investments in the secondary market, co-investments and fund investments), private debt (unitranche, mezzanine and senior), real estate (from core-plus properties to value-adding transactions, equity as well as debt financing) and asset management (pension and equity funds). The geographic focus is on the regions of Europe, North America and Africa. The LFPI Group comprises a team of 70 professionals in seven offices, which pursues a long-term and conservative investment strategy. www.lfpi.fr
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