Rivercrown realises €120m from sale of Lisbon offices fund

Property investor and advisory firm Rivercrown has sold its 99.9% holding in Portuguese fund Maxirent. The buyer is a Singaporean listed fund which has paid about €120 million.

The fund’s portfolio consists of seven office assets in Lisbon and a development site. The assets, described as core and core-plus, total 41,283 sq m. They include: Rua Das Chagas 7, located in Lisbon’s Chiado historic riverfront district; Fontes Pereira De Melo 7; and Fontes Pereira De Melo 27, close to Lisbon’s Saldanha Square in the city’s central business district.

The portfolio also includes the  7,975 sq m Edifico Prime, Cidade De Córdova and Estrada De Alfragide office buildings in the Alfragide district. Rivercrown was advised on the sale by Uría Menéndez and CBRE.

Maxirent, a closed-ended real estate fund, was established in 1993 and is listed on the Euronext Exchange, Lisbon. London-based Rivercrown acquired its stake in Maxirent in September 2019 and, in parallel, acquired Refundos, the fund’s management company which is regulated by the Portuguese securities markets commission CMVM.

Stephen Benson.

Rivercrown will retain its ownership of Refundos which will continue to manage the Maxirent fund as well as seeking new management mandates.

Among the attractions of the Portuguese market is that it is not yet as well-known as markets like Frankfurt, Paris or London, Rivercrown said in a statement.

“A lot of real estate in Portugal is privately owned by a relatively small number of local players, not international investors,” said Rivercrown managing director Stephen Benson. “Transactions are often ‘off market’ too.”

Rivercrown, which was established in 2004, has two divisions: principal investment debt and equity, and financial and capital markets advisory.

Author: