Benson Elliot acquires German retail portfolio for €175 million

Benson Elliot has acquired German retail portfolio from Brack Capital Properties for €175 million.

The portfolio comprises 100,600 sqm of lettable space across three properties and more than 3,500 car parking spaces.

The centres, which serve markets outside the cities of Dortmund, Hanover and Rostock, are long-established and trade area dominant.

The three regionally German convenience retail assets are currently 99% let on long and seasoned leases. Tenants include occupiers with a high resilience to e-commerce penetration, including leading German grocery chains and DIY operators.

The UK-based private equity real estate fund manager said Brack Capital Properties has retained a minority stake in the transaction.


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“This acquisition reflects our continued confidence in market dominant, needs-based retail formats. While there is much debate around the challenges facing the retail sector, these properties are established anchor points for daily shopping needs, resilient to e-commerce growth and of a scale that would make them difficult to replicate today. Moreover, traditional retail sales in Germany are on a positive trajectory, underpinned by favourable economic conditions, including strong real wage growth. As a consequence, assets of this nature, with their robust cash flow generating capacity, continue to be prized by institutional and other investors seeking secure cash flow streams in a low interest rate environment,” said Joseph De Leo, Senior Partner at Benson Elliot.

“The portfolio is extremely strong in location quality and local dominance leading to sustainable tenant demand. Although the properties are almost fully let, we will put a strong focus on optimising the tenant set-up in close collaboration with the existing and prospective tenants,” said Carl-Christoph Pieper, Managing Director at Modulus.