HSL Fund remains on growth track
The residential real estate fund Helvetica Swiss Living Fund (HSL Fund) wants to grow and is planning a capital increase in the course of 2021. A listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange is also being examined.
The HSL Fund portfolio had a market value of CHF 204.3 million on the reporting date of 31 December 2020. With the transfer of ownership of an additional property on 1 January 2021, the portfolio at the beginning of 2021 consists of properties with a total value of 221.5 million, according to the fund management company.
The annual target rental income of these portfolio properties as at 1 January 2021 is CHF 9.7 million (as at 31.12.2020: 8.9 million), 90% of which comes from residential use and associated ancillary uses. Rental income generated in the 2020 financial year reportedly amounted to CHF4.6m. Because of its high residential content, the portfolio has proved "extremely resilient" in the Covid 19 pandemic, Helvetica Property Investors said. No Covid-19-related defaults were recorded in the 2020 financial year and no rent reductions had to be granted, it added. The occupancy rate of the portfolio stood at 89.2% at the end of 2020.
According to the information provided, net income reached CHF 4.7 million in the 2020 financial year. The valuation of the property portfolio by the independent valuation expert Wüest Partner resulted in an unrealised gain of CHF 5.4 million, and total income was CHF 9.0 million.
Total fund assets as at 31 December 2020 amounted to CHF 225.1 million and net fund assets to CHF 148.5 million. The leverage ratio is put at 35.5%. As of 31 December 2020, the net asset value per fund unit was CHF108.31, representing an investment return of 8.3% since the fund's initial offering in November 2019. For the 2020 financial year, the Fund intends to distribute a total of CHF4.3 million, or CHF3.10 per Fund unit. (ah)
