How to Structure a €1bn Pan-European Office Portfolio Sales Transaction for Four German Open-Ended Real-Estate Funds – The Union Investment ‘Aqua Portfolio’ Transaction
Abstract
In 2015, French investor Amundi Immobilier bought the €1bn Aqua Portfolio from Union Investment Real Estate GmbH, Hamburg (“Union Investment”) in what was shaping up to be one of the first and largest portfolio transactions in 2015 and Union Investment’s first pan-European portfolio transaction. The selling entity is part of the Union Investment Group’s real-estate division, together with Union Investment Institutional Property GmbH and Union Investment Real Estate Austria AG. These three capital management companies make Union Investment Group one of Europe’s largest providers of customized real-estate solutions for private and institutional asset allocation. Its international property portfolio held on account of more than ten actively managed open-ended real-estate funds altogether is diversified across 23 national markets and amounts to approx. €30bn, predominantly consisting of office properties, hotels, shopping centers and logistics facilities as well as renewable energies.