The owner-managed investment manager Aukera Real Estate AG, headquartered in Essen, has secured an additional €50 million commitment from HUK-COBURG Asset Management GmbH (HAM) for its Aukera Real Estate Debt Fund I. HAM, the asset management company of the HUK-COBURG insurance group and the fund's anchor investor, has doubled its commitment from €50 million to €100 million. The increase marks the fund's second close and gives Aukera additional capacity to originate senior secured real estate loans beyond the transactions already in its pipeline. The fund is structured as a Luxembourg S.C.A. SICAV-RAIF.
The fund provides exclusively senior secured loans backed by well-located office, retail, logistics, mixed-use and residential properties. Selected hotel assets are also eligible. Its current geographical focus is on Germany, the Netherlands and Austria, although the investment mandate extends to other markets across continental Europe. The commingled fund has a target size of €500 million and is open to institutional investors with a minimum commitment of €1 million.
Aukera expects further transactions before year-end
Patrick Züchner, Chief Investment Officer at Aukera Real Estate, comments: “HAM's decision to double its commitment is a strong vote of confidence. The additional capital allows us to pursue further opportunities in alternative real estate lending. What matters is that every financing meets our requirements for security and an appropriate risk–return profile. We expect to complete further transactions before the end of this year.”
According to Züchner, the current market environment offers attractive opportunities in selected senior secured real estate financings. He points to a robust deal pipeline and the potential to build a diversified loan portfolio over time.
Beyond providing whole loans secured against existing properties, Aukera also sees opportunities in special situations. These include bridge-to-exit financing ahead of a property sale and bridge-to-green loans to fund energy-efficiency improvements. The fund may also provide financing in selected cases involving projects affected by financial distress. Whether financing project completions or helping to restart stalled developments, Aukera focuses exclusively on properties with commercially viable long-term prospects.
HUK-COBURG Asset Management cites positive experience as reason for increased commitment
Maximilian Cosack, Head of Private Asset at HAM, says: “Our positive experience with the Aukera fund and the trust we have developed in Aukera's management team prompted us to increase our commitment. Our €100 million commitment is a strong fit with our real estate debt portfolio.”
The fund targets institutional investors in German-speaking markets and focuses exclusively on senior secured lending. It does not provide mezzanine finance or preferred equity and does not use back leverage (borrowing at fund level).
Aukera currently targets individual loan sizes of €10 million to €20 million, with financings of up to €40 million possible as the fund grows. Typical loan terms are two to three years, with loan-to-value (LTV) or loan-to-cost (LTC) ratios of 70% to 75%. Depending on the risk profile of each transaction, the target IRR is approximately 7.5% to 8% per annum, with a target interest margin of around 400 basis points over the swap rate.
More than half of the €100 million in committed capital has already been deployed or allocated to specific transactions.
