KanAm Grund Group has weathered the COVID-19 storm well and managed to further expand its institutional business in 2020

• 8-month transaction volume around 850 million euros with 24 office properties bought
• Successful sale in Munich East
• New fund specializing in office properties announced

Even in 2020, marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the KanAm Grund Group has been able to further expand its institutional business, and over the first 8 months of the year, has achieved a transaction volume of around 850 million euros for special real estate funds and institutional investors, by buying 24 office properties in Germany and Europe. After about a year, the KanAm Grund Group also sold the real estate development project One Hundred East at the former Da Vinci Campus in Munich. In response to the demand for security by retirement and pension funds as well as insurance companies, the KanAm Grund Group, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this October, is planning to add a new special real estate fund at the turn of the year. The fund’s investment strategy will target office properties in European cities which are let to public institutions or tenants with a public-service remit. The fund will have a target volume of 500 million euros worth of assets under management.

The number of special AIFs managed by KanAm Grund Institutional KVG will increase to seven funds or mandates this year. With the addition of the KanAm Grund Public Institutions Europe special AIF the target volume of assets under management will increase to 2,650 million euros. Currently there are around 1,736 million euros worth of assets under management.

The global COVID pandemic has, without a doubt, had a massive impact on the economic activity in all sectors during 2020. However, office real estate with select quality tenants in prime locations has proven to be particularly resistant to the economic downturn. This may be one of the contributing factors to KanAm Grund Group achieving a very successful sale in Munich this August. A joint venture of KanAm Grund German Development Fund and Munich-based CV Real Estate had bought the property with a gross floor area of approximately 18,000 square meters at the Zamdorferstrasse/Klausenburgerstrasse industrial park about a year ago. Under the real estate project “One Hundred East”, this 14,500 square meter plot in Munich East is set to be developed into commercial and office space. Preliminary building permission has already been granted for a gross floor area of 24,000 square meters.

In August, the KanAm Grund Group also purchased an ensemble of historic buildings at 30-33 Molesworth Street in the Irish capital Dublin for its new special real estate fund, KanAm Grund European Cities KI. The fully let portfolio with around 5,300 square meters of office space consists of four independent buildings. All date back to the mid-19th century and have undergone comprehensive refurbishment over the last 20 years, some were completely rebuilt, retaining only the old facade. One of the buildings received a LEED Gold certification. Molesworth Street is one of Dublin’s most prestigious office addresses.

The first property purchase for this new special real estate fund, KanAm Grund European Cities KI, which is specifically aimed at the needs of banks and savings and loans institutions, took place at the beginning of the year in Lyon. Namely the purchase of the office building CEGID 52 Quai Paul Sédallian in the Vaise district of the city, which is fully let to Cegid SA, a company founded in 1983, which offers cloud services and management software to private companies and the public sector worldwide.

February and May saw the purchase of two office buildings for the special real estate fund KanAm Grund European Cities HP in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Dublin, Ireland. In Edinburgh the fund purchased the 4 North office building, a property with BREEAM certification for sustainability, which is fully let on long-term lease to Computershare Limited, a global service provider which, among other interests, handles high-volume transaction data on the stock market. In Dublin it bought the fully-let office building One Upper Hatch Street, whose main tenant is Deloitte. This property is a flat-roofed office building with around 2,700 square meters of office space.

Back at the end of March, the KanAm Grund Group purchased the King Square site in the heart of the Danish capital Copenhagen for the German pension fund Ärzteversorgung Westfalen-Lippe. This is a unique portfolio with approximately 49,000 square meters of lettable space in direct proximity to the central King’s New Square (Kongens Nytorv). The plot includes 15 buildings built between 1796 to 1971, 14 of which are office buildings and one is a parking garage. The sole tenant is Danske Bank, which uses the buildings as headquarters. The plan over the next few years, once Danske Bank has moved out, is to refurbish and redevelop the buildings, some of which have historical character, and to develop the site into a mix of office, retail, hotel and private living space in its unique location.

In June, KanAm Grund Group purchased the ABC-West office building in Frankfurt for the institutional Fokus Süddeutschland Fund. This property, with its nine tenants, around 13,300 square meters of office and storage space and 275 underground car parking spaces, is located on Solmsstrasse 71-75 in the City West sector of Frankfurt within easy reach of local public transport and cycling routes.

For other special real estate funds, the KanAm Grund Group bought the Kontorhaus building in Frankfurt and the “Heimatministerium” building in Nuremberg, let to the Bavarian Ministry of Finance and Regional Identity.

The KanAm Grund Group is continuously expanding its portfolios for institutional investors. Institutional investors, investing in this KanAm Grund Group family of funds in Germany and Europe, include banks with their depot A investments, enterprises and church assets, pension funds and high-net worth family assets.

20 years of the KanAm Grund Group
The KanAm Grund Group was founded in October 2000 and has since handled a transaction volume of over 35 billion US dollars. From 2013 on the first private financial investment management company in Germany has been restructured to form the KanAm Grund Group. The owner-managed company is operating with great success in three business divisions: The LEADING CITIES INVEST public fund, special real estate funds and the separate account business. The international real estate company focuses on the individual needs of German and international investors, with the geographical emphasis being on Europe and the United States.