The investment and real estate fund ARETE is reporting a return of 8.9 percent for 2019 and an increase of its total assets under management to over CZK 2.4bn. That’s set to increase during 2020 as it completes the construction of warehouse buildings on some of its land. ARETE opened a third industrial property fund for qualified investors this year. Its goal is to build a portfolio with a value of CZK 12bn with over 600,000 sqm of industrial space by investing in existing assets and development projects across Central and Eastern Europe. “At the moment, we’re in the process of evaluating investments worth a total of CZK 8bn in the Czech Republic and Slovakia,” said the fund’s co-founder Lubor Svoboda. ARETE’s other co-founder, Robert Ides, said that given the current economic environment, the fund’s strategy of investing with low exposure to debt was proving to be a competitive advantage.
