Allianz Real Estate (ARE) has acquired 100% of the shares of Central Shopping Center in Bratislava from Immocap, a Slovakian real estate development company, for around €175m ($190m).
"Our investment into Central Shopping Center is again an important step to a further diversification of Allianz´ real estate portfolio and to expand our investments in retail assets," said Annette Kröger, CEO of ARE Germany. "At the same time it is an attractive opportunity to get exposure to the Slovakian market." The small Eastern European country was referred to as the Tatra Tiger when its GDP grew strongly from 2000 to 2008 - and it has kept on experiencing positive GDP growth since then.
ARE is a property investment and asset manager with main offices in Munich and Paris, founded in 2009. Last year (up to 31 August), the company invested €1.4bn in real estate, sold €300m-worth of assets and managed real estate amounting to €26.8bn in value. Total assets under management amounted to €37.4bn.
Allianz Real Estate is part of German insurer Allianz, which serves around 85m customers in 70 countries, and which had third-party assets of €1.3trn under management at year-end 2014.