Union Investment returns to UK, up to another e1.5bn to invest

Union Investment Real Estate, Germany's second largest open-end real estate fund manager, in summer made its first acquisition in the UK for three years with the purchase of a London office property at 10 Gresham Street for the equivalent of e164.7m - and says it intends to invest up to another e1.5bn in Europe this year.

"After the sharp price corrections, London is now once again offering good opportunities to move back in for core investors with strong equity bases," said CEO Karl-Joseph Hermanns-Engel said. Including this new acquisition, Union Investment, the fund manager for the German cooperative banking sector, said it has spent some e600m so far on European property in 2009, and "we want to invest a further e1bn to e1.5bn this year."

(Full story in upcoming PFE/PIE editions)