M7 closes first central European fund and acquires Budapest logistic park

M7 Real Estate has closed its first central European fund for third party investors, M7 Central European Real Estate Fund I after raising its target of €60m (£51m). Its first close in October 2016 raised €35m. M7 CEREF I has also acquired the 64,600 sq m (700,000 sq ft) Aerozone Logistics Park in Budapest, Hungary, from CA Immo Group and Union Invest. The grade A multi-tenanted logistics park is located close to Budapest airport with a range of national and multinational tenants. M7 has also agreed a €68.5m senior debt facility with Starwood European Real Estate Finance on behalf of M7 CEREF I with an initial three-year term, which will enable the remaining c.€65.5m of deals to take place during the next few weeks and result in the fund being fully invested. The Mani Business Centre in Zagreb, Croatia, and Oregon House, Prague, which were both acquired immediately after the fund’s first close, are excluded from the Starwood debt agreement. The fund targets both core plus and high yielding regional opportunities across major cities in the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Investments have been sourced across all sectors and are managed by M7 through its platform, which was first established in the central Eastern European region in early 2014 with an office in Warsaw. It has subsequently expanded to include offices in Prague, Zagreb, Budapest and Bratislava. David Ebbrell, chief investment officer, said: “The acquisition of the Aerozone Logistics Park demonstrate how we are able to utilise our pan-European network to identify assets in prime locations across Western Europe, CEE and the Nordics, which offer the opportunity for active asset management to deliver value to our investors in line with the individual strategies we have created for them.” Richard Croft, M7’s chief executive, said: “Having put our first tranche of investor capital to work in October, the additional investor capital raised, together with the senior debt facility with Starwood, will allow us to proceed with the deals identified and to have the fund fully invested during the next four to six weeks. We have a number of asset management initiatives planned in order to drive value across the portfolio and deliver exceptional returns to our investors.” To send feedback, e-mail Shekha.Vyas@egi.co.uk or tweet @shekhaV or @estatesgazette