Aukera Real Estate AG, an independent investment management firm based in Essen, Germany, has successfully completed a senior secured financing of more than EUR 150 million for a Netherlands real estate portfolio. The deal, executed through the Aukera Real Estate Debt Lux. fund, a Luxembourg S.C.A. SICAV RAIF, encompasses not only the refinancing of an existing portfolio of more than 65 properties but also the financing of targeted ESG measures to further optimize the portfolio. The borrowers are companies of the Amsterdam-based investment group Metroprop B.V., which has been active in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany for more than 45 years. With this most recent financing, Aukera’s total lending since its founding in July 2020 has now grown to EUR 1.36 billion.
The Netherlands real estate portfolio consists primarily of residential and commercial properties in excellent central locations in various cities and includes space leased to essential local providers such as supermarkets. More than half of the properties are in Amsterdam. Of the total rentable space of approx. 86,400 sq.m., almost all is leased out. The portfolio thus offers the fund’s institutional investors, which are German insurance companies, a high level of cash flow security. The strength of this senior secured financing is further boosted by the extensive expertise of Metroprop in Amsterdam as well as the planned improvements to many of the properties to make them more energy efficient and thus better as long-term investment holdings.
“Our business relationship with Metroprop founder Jos van de Mortel goes back more than six years,” says Lars Armgart, Chief Executive Officer of Aukera Real Estate. “Even in challenging environments, the investor has repeatedly managed to strengthen this portfolio through targeted measures, thereby delivering stable performance. This excellent track record convinced us to support Metroprop yet again with this refinancing transaction.”
“We are very pleased and satisfied that we have been able to refinance this portfolio in this way, without any negative cash flow impact, so that we can continue our strategy of investments that combine sustainability with good returns,” says Jos van de Mortel, founder and owner of Metroprop B.V. “In this respect, we are already among the leaders in the European market.”
Aukera Real Estate was advised on the transaction by the international law firm of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) and by Voorhorst Van Waegeningh Advocaten in Utrecht. Metroprop was advised by Finway as legal counsel and by PolarReal Debt & Capital Advisory as financing advisor.
Three further pipeline deals totalling more than EUR 200 million
Aukera Real Estate anticipates three further transactions in the coming weeks, including the refinancing of a German object in the amount of EUR 30 million as well as financings of real estate portfolios in Luxembourg and the Netherlands with a combined amount in excess of EUR 175 million. These will be Aukera’s fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth transactions since its founding.
