FINANCE: Swedish bank SEB is looking for buyers for its circa €8.5bn (£7bn) German-based spezialfond business.
The Stockholm-headquartered bank is understood to have mandated Lazard’s Stockholm and Frankfurt offices to manage the sale.
Investors have the opportunity to buy SEB Asset Management’s special funds platform, which runs open-ended and closed-ended vehicles in Germany, Asia and the US.
These include the €4.3bn open-ended fund SEB ImmoInvest, which is now in liquidation after closing for redemptions in 2010.
In Asia, SEB Asset Management’s flagship fund is its open-ended SEB Asian Property Fund, which is solely for institutional investors.
In 2012 it announced plans for a follow-on fund, SEB Asian Property II, targeting international and high-net-worth investors, and SEB Asia REI fund, aimed at German institutional investors.
The business has an eight-strong office in Singapore, which forms part of the disposal process.
In the US it runs the SEB Americas REI vehicle, also understood to be part of the sale, which has now moved to second-round bids.
Rival German firms as well as global players looking for a European platform are expected to be interested in the business as consolidation in German fund management industry gathers pace.
An SEB spokesperson said: “The real estate investment management market in Germany is undergoing changes and we are considering all options in the best interests of our clients.”
Last month Zech Group-owned Deutsche Fonds Holding bought embattled IVG’s €3.4bn private funds business.
It was also reported in February that Lazard in Germany had been appointed to sell Corpus Sireo, the largest German real estate asset manager, by its three savings bank owners.
bridget.oconnell@estatesgazette.com
