Y&M and Castrén & Snellman advise AEW on the purchase of a residential portfolio in Finland

AEW Invest GmbH for account of a contractual fund has invested in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area: The fund acquired around 90 fully let apartments from the Finnish Bank of Åland Residential Property Fund.

The transaction comprises two residential apartment blocks with 5,018 sqm of net lettable area. The area represents a strategic sub-market for investors due to the predicted service and infrastructure developments for the micro locations.

The transaction was carried out as two share deals. Structure-wise, AEW’s international advisory team safeguarded mutual treatment of the German AIF with local Finnish funds via a binding ruling within the ambitious transaction timeframe.

The transaction was carried out via an open-ended AIF, set up by AEW Invest GmbH in 2019. The fund is tailored to the needs of a German institutional supplementary pension fund investing in pan-European assets.

By the end of 2018, the French asset manager AEW has strategically developed its German business from asset management to a fully licensed alternative investment fund manager (AIFM), now operating as AEW Invest GmbH.

Advisors AEW Invest GmbH

Yester & Morrow (Frankfurt and Hamburg): Partner: Andreas Walter; Associates: Karyna Modnik, Malte J. Mehrgardt, Lena Freiin von Bechtolsheim (all Capital Market and Investment Tax Law)

Castrén & Snellman (Helsinki): Partner: Mikko Alakare (Tax & Structuring), Matti Lajunen (Real Estate); Associates: Jenni Korhonen, Henri Monni (both Tax & Structuring)

Advisors Bank of Åland Residential Property Fund

Avance (Helsinki): Partner: Mathias Lindqvist; Associate: Eeva Riivari (both M&A, Real Estate)

Catella (Helsinki): Managing Director: Antti Louko, Director: Jan Malms, Analyst: Tea Lönnroth

Background Yester & Morrow:

The Yester & Morrow team has already advised AEW on numerous projects in the past. For the acquisition at hand, Andreas Walter continued a well-established cooperation with the renowned Finnish law firm Castrén & Snellman, with which he has already advised AEW on the purchase of Book House, the flag-ship retail store in Helsinki, in the summer of 2018.

With offices in Frankfurt and Hamburg, Yester & Morrow completed its market entry in June 2019. The firm aims at offering seamless advice throughout the lifecycle of an investment. Based on traditional values and a high professional standard, the work results are combined with an integrated legal tech approach, providing user-centered, value-added services, in a sustainable and resource-efficient environment.

Background AEW:

AEW is one of the world's largest real estate asset managers, with 67.6bn euro of assets under management as at 31 March 2019. AEW has over 700 employees, with its main offices located in Boston, London, Paris and Hong Kong and offers a wide range of real estate investment products including comingled funds, separate accounts and securities mandates across the full spectrum of investment strategies. AEW represents the real estate asset management platform of Natixis Investment Managers, one of the largest asset managers in the world.

As at 31 March 2019, AEW managed 31.8bn euro of real estate assets in Europe on behalf of a number of funds and separate accounts. AEW has 400 employees based in 9 offices across Europe and has a long track record of successfully implementing core, value-add and opportunistic investment strategies on behalf of its clients. In the last five years, AEW has invested and divested a total volume of over 20bn euro of real estate across European markets.

Contact:

Yester & Morrow Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH, Platz der Einheit 2, 60327 Frankfurt am Main,

Tel: +49 69 24 75 75 800, Email: contact@y-m.legal

www.y-m.legal