Cordea Savills, a property investment manager, intends to buy SEB Asset Management AG, the Frankfurt-based property investor belonging to Swedish banking group, SEB.
The deal is expected to close for around €21.5 million in cash.
Barbara Knoflach, chief executive, will leave SEB Asset Management, which has about 148 staff based in Frankfurt and Singapore and manages €10 billion of real estate assets under management (AUM) globally.
Approximately 40% of this AUM represents institutional funds, with the remainder being assets of a number of German open-ended funds, which are in the process of formal liquidation.
Alongside the transaction, Cordea Savills and SEB Group will enter into a co-operation agreement to provide real estate services to clients of SEB Group.
The deal, which is subject to German regulatory approval, will result in Cordea Savills being rebranded as Savills Investment Management.
Justin O’Connor, chief executive of Cordea Savills, says the proposed acquisition of SEB Asset Management complements “our strong organic growth and provides an opportunity to create a leading investment manager in Europe and Asia”.
Fredrik Boheman, head of SEB Germany and chairman of SEB Asset Management AG, says: ‘’I am convinced that Cordea Savills, as an experienced property investment manager with a global reach, is a good home for our German-based real estate investment business, and that they will prudently continue the wind down and liquidation of the German open ended real estate mutual funds.’’
©2015 funds euorpe
