HIH Invest Acquires Day Nursery in Duisburg for its “Zukunft Invest” Fund

• The property was sold by TERRA Projektentwicklung based in Frechen


• Total lettable area of 1,066 square metres


• 30-year lease signed with day nursery operator Step Kids Education GmbH

Hamburg, 29 July 2022 – HIH Invest Real Estate (“HIH Invest”) just acquired another day nursery (crèche) for its “Zukunft Invest” open-ended special AIF. The asset represents a new building in Duisburg that was constructed by TERRA, a property developer specialising in day nurseries. The nursery has a total lettable area of 1,066 square metres, and accommodates 95 children in six groups. A lease agreement was signed with the experienced sponsor Step Kids Education GmbH for a 30-year term.

Jens Nagelsmeier, Head of Transaction Management Retail & Healthcare at HIH Invest, commented: “Daycare properties have become an established asset class in their own right on the market, and are subject to strong demand because of their long-term security of income. However, their ownership structure is very heterogeneous: Day nurseries are often held by private owners whose portfolios include only one or two assets. There are no brokers or estate agents yet who specialise in these. Accordingly, our acquisition efforts concentrate on suitable new-build and conversion projects. In TERRA Projektentwicklung, we found an experienced partner, with whom we would like to deepen our collaboration in order to ensure a dynamic further development of our investment fund.

With its roughly 490,000 residents, Duisburg is the fifth-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia. The day nursery is located in Duisburg-Hochheide, a densely populated residential area, on a plot of 2,113 square metres with open areas designed specifically for children. Numerous shopping venues lie within easy walking distance, and the bank of the Rhine River is also just a short walk away. Driving time to the inner city is about 15 minutes.

Compared to the other German states, North Rhine-Westphalia has the greatest care gap in regard to day nursery spots. The care gap describes the difference between the number of spots actually needed and the number of children actually cared for. The gap amounts to 19 percent in NRW, and is topped only by the city state of Bremen with 20.2 percent.

The legal and tax due diligences for this transaction were conducted by the law firm of Heuking Kühn Luer Wojtek in Hamburg. The technical due diligence was performed by ES Enviro Sustain GMBH from Berlin.

“Daycare properties have become an established asset class in their own right on the market, and are subject to strong demand because of their long-term security of income. However, their ownership structure is very heterogeneous: Day nurseries are often held by private owners whose portfolios include only one or two assets. There are no brokers or estate agents yet who specialise in these. Accordingly, our acquisition efforts concentrate on suitable new-build and conversion projects. In TERRA Projektentwicklung, we found an experienced partner, with whom we would like to deepen our collaboration in order to ensure a dynamic further development of our investment fund.”

Jens Nagelsmeier, Head of Transaction Management Retail & Healthcare
HIH Invest