Swiss Central City Real Estate Fund: IPO planned
The Swiss Central City Real Estate Fund is to be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange in the second half of the year. To date, the fund has only been open to qualified investors.
According to the fund company Nova Property Fund Management, the Swiss Central City Real Estate Fund is to be converted into a retail fund with a view to its listing. This will make it accessible to all investor classes, not just qualified investors as has been the case to date. Investors would also benefit from increased liquidity and visibility of their fund units.
In the first half of 2021, the fund expanded its portfolio: four residential properties in St. Gallen, one residential property and two mixed-use properties in Lausanne and one residential property in Basel were acquired. The market value of the property portfolio increased by around CHF24% to CHF405.0m as a result of the eight new acquisitions and positive revaluation effects, Nova Property Fund Management said (31 December 2020: CHF327.4m). The residential ratio grew from 47% to 53% over the same period, it added. In line with the portfolio growth, target rental income (annualised) also increased by around 20% to CHF14.2m (31 December 2020: 11.8m).
Rental income reportedly increased from CHF2.5m to CHF5.7m in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year. In connection with the Corona pandemic, rent reductions of around CHF 32,000 had been granted in the reporting period, corresponding to 0.23% of the portfolio's annual target rental income as at 30 June 2021.
The net income of the Swiss Central City Real Estate Fund increased from CHF 1.2 million to CHF 3.8 million. Below the line, the fund posted total income of CHF 6.5 million. This compares with CHF 2.1 million in the same period of the previous year. (ah)
