Industrial Parks Making Money Even During Pandemic
Czech funds outperform foreign ones Once again, it has been confirmed that investing in industrial real estate is almost a safe bet. According to the real estate consulting company Savills, last year in continental Europe revenues from premium industrial properties and premium shopping centers were almost the same for the first time in history, as demand for logistics grew up sharply. You can read about us, as market leaders in the field of industrial real estate with gross return exceeding 17% p.a., about one of the largest transaction made last year and about a new acquisition in our third fund in the attached article in the daily Právo, only in Czech.
ARETE group successfully refinances its fund portfolio during the pandemic and now has a bank loan of up to EUR 80 million available
Prague, 3rd June 2020 – On 30th April, the ARETE investment and real estate group signed a contract with Raiffeisenbank for a loan of up to EUR 80 million. The funds will be used to refinance the existing real estate portfolio of ARETE’s second fund (ARETE INVEST CEE II sub-fund) and to invest into new industrial real estate construction while preserving a safe ratio of bank financing to fund asset value. For ARETE’s second fund this ratio is currently 43%, one of the lowest of all the qualified investor funds on the market. “Our real estate portfolio is high quality, with high value and profitability. The provided credit line of EUR 80 million shows that our fund is stable and resilient even in the current situation when the provision of new loans by banks is stagnating – the confidence shown in us by Raiffeisen is definite proof of that. Financing with such an amount at a time like this is really an exceptional success,” said Lubor Svoboda, ARETE group co-founder. “The funding brings our fund high stability and the certainty of sufficient capital backing. Yet it also brings new potential for portfolio growth, as the loan will be used flexibly based on our actual needs. This will allow us to take advantage of new opportunities on the market. At the same time, we want to keep the bank loan to asset value ratio at a safe level. It is at times like these that our strategy of lower indebtedness proves to be an unequivocal competitive advantage,” adds Robert Ides, the other ARETE group co-founder. The preparations for the refinancing and provision of a new credit line took a few months and the final agreement was made on 30 April. The goals of the newly signed contract were to simplify the administrative load arising from the eleven separate existing loans, and to enable higher flexibility for the funding of new construction. The legal aspects of the entire transaction were supervised by experienced law firms – Kocián Šolc Balaštík for ARETE and Clifford Chance for the bank. The second ARETE fund was established in 2016 and is gradually building up a homogeneous portfolio of industrial real estate in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The total cumulative gross return for 2019 reached 115%, while the gross return for the previous year was 8.9%. The value of the managed assets at the end of 2019 exceeded CZK 2.4 billion and will grow further in 2020 thanks to halls currently being completed. This fund was closed for the entry of new investors in 2018. A third ARETE group fund opened for investors at the beginning of 2020 that will not only invest into completed industrial real estate in Central and Eastern Europe but also itself construct new logistics and manufacturing buildings. The portfolio target value should come close to CZK 12 billion, and the portfolio should include over 600,000 m2 of leasable area and over 300,000 m2 of building land for further construction.
Arete Invest and EY held conference for investors
The conference for investors was held in the EY company headquarters of which Arete transparent fund is a partner. The main theme this year was „Financing and Costs of Investment Capital“ which was taken up by Robert Ides, the cofounder of Arete Invest, with partners from the EY David Zlámal and Lucie Říhová and other fellow experts on capital, debt and fiscal investment. „I think we have successfully followed up on the last year’s conference and established a tradition of an expert conference applying global lenses to development and behavior of the Czech market. Very open discussion aiming to offer knowledgeable opinion on the reality market and various financial instruments is probably an aspect most appreciated by the participants and we believe this will continue. https://finparada.cz/zprava_banka.aspx?ID=17600
Arete Invest is the first real estate fund to become an associate member of the Capital Market Association
Arete Invest, a fast-growing Czech fund focused on real estate investment, became the first real estate fund that is an associate member of the Czech Capital Market Association. After its several-year membership in the renowned global Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), it is now also a member of a local professional association. “We share common values with the Capital Market Association – we fight for the development and transparency of the capital market, and we place an emphasis on the protection of investors and trustworthiness. That is why we decided to become a member,” says Lubor Svoboda, co-founder and Chairman of the Management Board of Arete Invest. https://www.hypoindex.cz/tiskove-zpravy/arete-invest-se-stal-jako-prvni-nemovitostni-fond-pridruzenym-clenem-asociace-pro-kapitalovy-trh/ https://www.parlamentnilisty.cz/zpravy/tiskovezpravy/Arete-Invest-se-stal-jako-prvni-nemovitostni-fond-pridruzenym-clenem-Asociace-pro-kapitalovy-trh-543317
C&A stays in Arete Park in Slovakia
Arete Invest, a fast-growing Czech real estate investment fund, has signed a new six-year lease agreement with the C&A clothing chain at the end of the last year. He has been operating his Europe-wide distribution center for the ninth year in the Slovak Arete Park Nové Mesto nad Váhom, which has been historically chosen for its strategic position. http://kancelarie.etrend.sk/novinky/c-a-zostava-v-arete-parku-na-slovensku
Arete Invest has started restructuring its complex in Nové Mesto nad Váhom
The Arete Invest Real Estate Fund has started the long-planned restructuring of its industrial and logistics complex ARETE PARK NOVÉ MESTO in Slovakia. In the first stage, it will introduce 19,000 m2 of warehouse space to the market. In the second stage, it is planning the construction of new capacities with a floor area of up to 30,000 m2. “We want to find new tenants for one of the existing halls. Our financial models figure in an increase in the revenues from leasing and a risk diversification in the form of smaller lease units. We want to take advantage of the trend of a high year-on-year growth of the prices for leasing logistics premises, which is approximately 10 % year-on-year in Slovakia. We have already purchased a complex with this plan,” says Tomáš Novotný, Head of Asset Management at Arete Invest. According to him, the demand for warehouse and production space has been steadily growing in Slovakia. In addition to the growth in rent, this is manifested also in a very high occupancy rate of leasable space (only 2.3 % is available). Furthermore, demand exceeds supply by more than double in the microregion of Nové Mesto nad Váhom. “The part of restructuring is also a negotiation on prolongation of a lease agreement with current major tenant of the complex, C&A clothing chain. Given the boom in the Slovak market, which is currently more attractive than the Czech market to real estate investors, we expect an increase in the revenues from leasing. Therefore, this step should be good news for our investors. We will commence the construction of new capacities depending on the current demand,” concludes Tomáš Novotný.
Arete Invest acquires Prologis Park Nové Mesto nad Váhom
Arete Invest fund has acquired the Prologis Park Nové Mesto nad Váhom industrial and logistic facility. The distribution centre consists of two facilities with the total area of 39,600 m2 and 16 ha of lots for future development. The transaction’s value has not been disclosed. The facility is currently fully leased to C&A, Raben Logistics and Vetropack Nemšová. http://praguemonitor.com/2017/04/11/arete-invest-acquires-prologis-park-nov%C3%A9-mesto-nad-v%C3%A1hom
