CGI, the German open-ended fund manager, is launching a €1bn global real estate fund that will be up to 90% devoted to European markets. The company has also clinched a tenant for most of the space in Europe’s biggest telehouse. According to a CGI spokesman: “We have yet to name the new fund. Outside Europe, the only markets we would look at are Canada and Australia. The US is interesting, but there are fears there for the economy.” CGI has ruled out Asian markets as it considers them too risky.
The spokesman said that 2000 was a bad year for the funds under CGI’s management, and they saw money being withdrawn by investors attracted to the booming stock market. Now that the market has cooled, investors are once again drawn to the safety of the open-ended funds. Last year CGI posted a return of 5.6% as at December. “For January 2001 we expect 6%,” said the spokesman.
Meanwhile in Berlin, CGI’s agent FPDSavills has let the remaining 26,000m2 of its 42,000m2 telehouse at Nahmitzer Damm in Berlin-Marienhelde to IT company IP Powerhouse. CGI has owned the building, which is located at a junction of the Berlin glass fibre network, since 1994; it has been refurbished several times, and the fund manager is spending €102m (DM200m) on the structural and technical fit-out. The new German capital is marketing itself as a location for companies and their suppliers in the new economy.
