HIH Invest Real Estate Acquires Neighbourhood Retail Centre in Espelkamp

• Retail Park with around 8,500 square metres of total lettable area


• Tenant mix of essential retailers, anchored by Lidl, Müller Drogeriemarkt and Woolworth


• Acquired for special AIF “Warburg-HIH Perspektive Einzelhandel: Fokus Nahversorgung”

Hamburg, 12 October 2021 – HIH Invest Real Estate just acquired a multi-use neighbourhood retail centre in the town of Espelkamp in eastern Westphalia (North Rhine-Westphalia). It was sold by aik Immobilien-Investmentgesellschaft (aik). The property has a total lettable area of around 8,500 square metres, and is almost fully occupied. It consists of five buildings that are grouped around a central parking lot with more than 300 spots. Anchor tenants include a Lidl discounter on 1,820 square metres, a Müller Drogeriemarkt drugstore on 1,440 square metres and a Woolworth of 2,650 square metres of lettable area. The tenant mix is complemented by retailers of the textiles and footwear segments as well as by offices, doctors’ surgeries and service providers occupying smaller units. The acquisition was transacted in the form of an asset deal on behalf of “Warburg-HIH Perspektive Einzelhandel: Fokus Nahversorgung,” an open-ended special AIF specialising in grocery retail property. Its focus is on real estate in economically stable German cities and on assets priced at ten to 40 million euros each. The annual dividend yield is somewhere between 4.5 and 5.5 percent.

The retail park opened for business in 2007, and represents a key component of the high-street retail line-up of Espelkamp. Located next to the central parking lot are other retail, service and leisure amenities, including an Aldi discount supermarket and the only cinema in town. The site comes with convenient transport links to the rest of the Espelkamp city area, and is easily accessible by both public and private motorised transportation. Inner-city residential areas are located within walking distance.

Jens Nagelsmeier, Head of Retail Transaction at HIH Invest Real Estate, elaborated: “With its well-balanced tenant constituency and its blue-chip anchor tenants, the neighbourhood retail centre in Espelkamp is a particularly attractive asset for our institutional fund. The tenants are highly recognisable, and benefit from mutual synergy effects with retail and leisure options in the direct vicinity as well as from the surrounding residential areas.”

The legal and fiscal due diligence for the transaction was performed by the law firm of HEUKING KÜHN LÜER WOJTEK in Hamburg. Responsible for the technical due diligence and the ESG due diligence was C.P.H. Projekt- und Baumanagement GmbH base in Hamburg.

“With its well-balanced tenant constituency and its blue-chip anchor tenants, the neighbourhood retail
centre in Espelkamp is a particularly attractive asset for our institutional fund. The tenants are highly
recognisable, and benefit from mutual synergy effects with retail and leisure options in the direct vicinity
as well as from the surrounding residential areas.”

Jens Nagelsmeier, Head of Retail Transaction
HIH Invest Real Estate