This is BMO Real Estate Partners' highest German transaction volume ever. BMO Real Estate started investing in Europe in 2014 when the BMO asset management arm of the Bank of Montreal took over London-based peer F&C. 

BMO Real Estate Partners Germany acquired 24 properties for a total of €478 mln during 2017. The German business sold around 67 assets for a total of €392 mln. The transaction activity led to an increase of about 7% in German assets under management to €2.6 bn for the full-year 2017. 

This is a slight uptick from September 2017 when BMO Real Estate had £5.6 bn (then around €6.3 bn) of assets under management across the entire European business. The largest share in September 2017 was in the UK (€3 bn or 48%), followed by Germany (€2.5 bn or 40%) and France (€566 mln or 9%). The remainder was spread across other markets. 

BMO Real Estate Partners has a team of more than 110 people located in the UK, Ireland, Germany and France. 

German deals
By end-2017, BMO Real Estate Partners Germany, headed by Vincent Frommel, managed 90 properties with more than 3,250 residential units in nearly 70 locations in the residential real estate sector. The 2017 deal activity led to an increase in total living space in the portfolio from 175,000 m2 at the start of 2017 to 250,000 m2 by the end of the 12-month period.

'We divested many properties in 2017 as part of our portfolio optimisation programme. At the same time, due to large-volume acquisitions, we were again able to increase the real estate assets we manage and create a basis for future growth with the launch of new products,' said Thomas Hübner, head of investment at BMO Real Estate Partners Germany.

The acquisition activity included residential real estate in Ludwigsburg, Berlin and Neu-Ulm, as well as the acquisition of several retail properties, most recently in Flensburg, Bad-Homburg and Chemnitz. A large portion of the acquisitions were carried out on behalf of the two new real estate special AIFs, Best Value Wohnen I and Best Value Germany III.

The disposals included the 'three-digit million' sales of retail portfolios in the first half of the year: the Sidewalk portfolio acquired by AEW Europe and the FO (U) R VALUE portfolio bought by funds managed by ILG Group.

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PropertyEU's annual Top Investors Deals and Dealmakers ranking, based on European real estate transactions in 2017, is published in May 2018.