Warburg-HIH Invest forms value-add unit

Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate is in the process of setting up a new business unit and plans to invest €300m in German office properties marked by value-add and rental upside potential before the end of the year.
Hans-Joachim Lehmann, managing director of Warburg-HIH Invest said:"We will upgrade the properties, eliminate vacancies, bring them up to the market level within three to five years and dispose them off afterwards. We will limit these activities to the Big Seven cities, which are subject to keen demand among investors and tenant leads."
The new business unit will be headed by Daniel Werner as head of Transaction Management Value Add Germany. He is transferring from HOCHTIEF Projektentwicklung where he most recently served as head of Branch in Hamburg and had the overall responsibility for the operating activities in town. Werner brings more than 20 years of experience and has been active in the property development sector for the past 14 years.
With the new business unit, Warburg-HIH Invest will expand its product spectrum, which so far used to be focused on properties of the core and core+ type.
Alexander Eggert, Managing Director at Warburg-HIH Invest commented: "Insurance companies, pension funds and superannuation schemes increasingly demand investment opportunities that will help them offset the current yield compression in the prime property segment."