Swiss Central City Real Estate Fund aspires to the stock exchange
The fund management company Nova Property Fund Management is planning to list the Swiss Central City Real Estate Fund on the SIX Swiss Exchange this year. Fund assets more than doubled in the 2020 financial year.
The Swiss Central City Real Estate Fund further expanded its real estate portfolio in the 2020 financial year with the acquisition of 14 properties and increased the market value of the properties in the portfolio by CHF 1121,000 thousand year-on-year to CHF 327.4 million (as at 31.12.2020) (31.12.2019: CHF 154.2 million). The target rents of the existing properties increased by CHF 1241,000 to CHF 11.8 million, and the portfolio's residential ratio rose from CHF 311,000 at the end of 2019 to CHF 471,000 as at December 31, 2020 as a result of the acquisitions.
As Nova Property Fund Management also reports, rental income tripled - mainly thanks to the acquisitions in the two previous years - and reached 6.0 million after 2.0 million in 2019. Of the 14 properties acquired by the fund in 2020, nine were added to the portfolio at the beginning of October and four in December 2020. These would therefore only develop their full earning power in the 2021 financial year. The fund management describes the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the rental income of the fund's real estate portfolio as "relatively low": in total, rent waivers amounted to around CHF 60,000 in the 2020 reporting year, which corresponds to 0.5% of the target rental income as at December 31, 2020.
Significant profit increase and stock market listing
Net income rose from 0.8 million to 4.9 million, while the operating profit margin is put at 56.0%. The rental loss rate excluding projects is stated at 11.0%. The valuation of the portfolio led to an unrealized gain of CHF 4.1 million (2019: CHF 2.8 million). According to the information provided, total income amounted to CHF 7.7 million in the reporting year after CHF 2.8 million in 2019. Total fund assets more than doubled and now stand at CHF 333.8 million (2019: CHF 160.8 million). According to the information provided, net fund assets reached 244.4 million (2019: 91.9 million).
According to the fund management company, further expansion of the portfolio in line with the investment strategy is planned for 2021. In addition, the Swiss Central City Real Estate Fund is to be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. This will transform the fund, which is currently only available to qualified investors, into a retail fund. Investors would benefit from increased liquidity and visibility of their fund units as a result of the listing.
