ECE has launched its inaugural European residential real estate fund and successfully raised equity commitments from renowned institutional investors, including two large highly reputable German insurance groups. With the capital raised in the first closing, the fund plans the purchase of investments with a volume of more than €350 million. Further capital commitments from institutional investors will be raised in the coming months. The strategic partner for the residential build-to-rent investments of institutional investors in the newly launched fund is the specialized Group company ECE Living. It is supported in concept and product design as well as in capital raising by the investment banking boutique Victoria Partners.
The “ECE Better Living Europe Fund” invests in newly built residential quarters in attractive locations in European metropolises which are specially designed for tenants’ needs (“Build-to-Rent” properties): modern rental apartments, specially tailored to the target group “Urban Professionals”, with tailor-made facilities, attractive common areas and efficient floor plans as well as sustainable architecture and construction.
In a first step, the fund portfolio will comprise two build-to-rent properties in Leeds and Manchester with a total of 974 residential units that are already fully let and well established in the market. Further expansion of the portfolio through acquisitions of properties in various major European cities is already in the pipeline.
“With our new ECE Better Living Europe Fund, we are successfully expanding the investment spectrum managed and offered by ECE to include investments in modern, sought-after residential properties,” says Henrie W. Kötter, Managing Partner of ECE Living. Jan-Hendrik Walloch, also Managing Partner of ECE Living, adds: “The fact that we succeeded in raising high capital commitments from renowned investors in the current market environment with rising interest rates and costs, high inflation and a growing uncertainty is a great success and speaks for the quality of our product and the sustainability of this concept.”
With its specialization in contemporary, customer-oriented residential offerings in European growth metropolises, the “ECE Better Living Europe Fund” actively addresses ongoing social change processes and changing needs such as working from home and the desire for a pleasant atmosphere and additional service offerings. Investors and tenants alike benefit from the ECE Group’s extensive expertise in design and project development as well as its comprehensive operator know-how.
