Sierra, a fully vertically integrated international real estate company, has acquired a further seven supermarkets for the Sierra German Food Retail Income Fund I. The acquisition brings the total number of supermarkets in the German food retail fund to twelve. This brings the total number of supermarkets in the German food retail fund to twelve properties. Launched at the end of 2021, the fund has been placed with leading institutional blue-chip investors from the DACH region.
The focus of the fund is primarily on discounters and supermarkets, rounded out by hypermarkets. Preference is given to stable stand-alone properties characterized by long-term leases with recognized, high-quality operators. The twelve properties are located in North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Bavaria, Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate, among others.
The fund has a target volume of around EUR 200 million, underlining the format as well as its focus on the food retail sector, which is considered resilient. The fund is aligned with Sierra’s expertise and strategic direction in investment management and fits its growing portfolio in Europe.
Christoph Billwiller, Investment Management Director at Sierra, says: “With the stable fund and its long-term returns, we are committed to a robust real estate sector. We are very pleased with the properties we have acquired in just over a year and consider ourselves fortunate to be able to offer our investors above-average returns in the future. This confirms our role as a first-class investment management partner in Europe. With these new acquisitions, we demonstrate our ability to offer attractive investment opportunities to diverse investors.”
Sierra closed 2022 with an increase of EUR 700 million in properties under management. In total, the company managed different property types such as office, logistics and mixed-use properties worth more than EUR 4.8 billion as of Dec. 31, 2022. Sierra manages more than 15 investment vehicles in Europe in partnership with leading international and private investors.
Luis Mota Duarte, CFO and Executive Director of Investment Management at Sierra, said, “We are very pleased with the progress of Sierra German Food Retail Income Fund I. The German market has a strategically important role for Sonae Sierra. This is where we will bring our long-standing and excellent investment and asset management capabilities. The acquisitions in Germany are in line with the performance of the Investment Management division in Europe in 2022. Our AuM outside shopping centers has doubled and we have developed a promising pipeline of potential projects.”
Sierra recently joined the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) initiative and signed the principles to promote sustainable investment by integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into investment decisions.
Sierra also became the first real estate company in Portugal to refinance part of its debt by issuing bonds linked to sustainability criteria. This has strengthened the company’s leadership in the management of sustainable investments.
Sierra Prime and Iberia Coop, funds managed by Sierra, were awarded the Green Star at the GRESB Real Estate Assessment for the 13th consecutive year. This assesses, among other things, the ESG performance of individual properties and portfolios, as well as real estate companies and real estate funds worldwide.
