SEB Asset Management is preparing the sale of a further EUR 500 mln of property assets this year from its frozen SEB ImmoInvest open-ended fund.
The German fund manager has completed roughly EUR 228 mln of sales so far in 2011, but plans to offload a further EUR 500 mln in an effort to raise SEB ImmoInvest's liquidity level to its target of EUR 1.5 bn.
'We are actively looking for further sales, which after the recent ones in Italy, Belgium and Germany will most likely take place in France and the Netherlands, but also in Germany, which makes up for the bulk of the fund's portfolio,' Barbara Knoflach, Chief Executive of SEB Asset Management, told PropertyEU.
In late March, SEB ImmoInvest divested two assets in Germany for a total of EUR 103 mln. The Das ES! shopping centre in Esslingen was acquired by UK property investment manager Rockspring for EUR 69 mln. City Carrée, an 18,000-m2 retail park in Salzgitter, was purchased by international fund manager Aviva Investors on behalf of its EUR 350 mln European Property Fund (EPF).
SEB ImmoInvest has been closed for redemptions since May last year, mostly due to market uncertainty prompted by the enforcement of new regulations for GOEFs.
A number of German open-ended real estate funds have recently been put in liquidation including Aberdeen's Degi Europa and Morgan Stanley's P2 Value fund. While the coming months will determine the future of KanAm Grundinvest Fonds, other funds such as AXA REIM's Immoselect fund and SEB ImmoInvest are meanwhile seeking a sale on a vast chunk of their portfolios.
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