ECE Real Estate Partners
Unlocking value in operational real estate
Operational real estate:
an attractive opportunity set
We are a leading specialist investment manager focused on income-producing, operational real estate across Europe.
Our strategies combine hands-on asset and operational management with disciplined capital deployment to deliver resilient cash flows and sustainable value creation throughout market cycles.
Drawing on a unique experience in sectors such as dominant shopping centres and hotels, we structure and execute business plans that enhance the operational performance of each asset, protect downside risk, and capture upside from changing market environments.
Resilient, income-driven cash flows
Operational real estate offers a combination of stable base income from long-term leases and variable revenue components that allow investors to participate in the operating performance of the asset.
Diversified tenant and operator bases help mitigate single-counterparty risk and support consistent distributions over time.
Embedded value-add potential
By design, these assets provide multiple levers for pro-active value creation – from optimising tenant and brand mix to refurbishments, extensions, and concept upgrades.
Our in-house teams identify and execute targeted initiatives that enhance earnings, improve customer experience, and reposition assets to new demand patterns.
High barriers to entry
We focus on markets where strict planning regimes, limited availability of comparable sites, and the complexity of developing and operating large-scale assets materially limit new supply.
This creates meaningful barriers to entry, protects the competitive position of well-located assets and supports occupancy and rental levels over the long term.
Inflation protection
Across our strategies, lease contracts are structured with inflation indexation as a standard feature.
Periodic step-ups and, where appropriate, turnover-based components further support income growth over time and help preserve real capital values.
Supportive long-term fundamentals
Structural trends such as urbanisation, evolving patterns of how people live, work, shop and travel, and the increasing importance of experience- and service-led formats support the long-term growth potential of operational real estate across market cycles.
Our investment philosophy: proactive value creation
Active asset and operations management
Fully integrated, in-house asset and operational management teams work closely with tenants and operators to drive performance and rental income.
We systematically identify asset-level improvements – from layout optimisations and capex measures to marketing and digital initiatives – that enhance customer experience and maximise value.
Redevelopment/ expansion
We design and deliver cost-effective refurbishments, redevelopments, and extensions to unlock additional revenue-generating space and optimise building configurations.
Our focus is on timely, innovative execution with clear business plans and robust risk-return profiles.
Repositioning and concept evolution
Where assets no longer fully align with market demand, we systematically unlock value through focused reinvestment, refurbishment and modernisation, decisively repositioning them via brand upgrades, concept evolution and a targeted reconfiguration of uses and offerings.
Re-leasing and operator partnerships
We actively manage re-leasing and contractual structures to combine strong downside protection with meaningful participation in operational upside.
We prioritise occupiers and operators with robust concepts, proven operating capabilities and solid covenants that enhance the resilience and long-term performance of each asset.
Portfolio construction and risk management
Portfolios are constructed to achieve diversification across countries, cities, micro-locations, brands, and counterparties.
We apply institutional-grade risk management, financing, and reporting standards to provide transparency and control for our investors.
Our investment focus
on shopping centres
Investing exclusively in existing dominant prime (or the potential to be repositioned as prime) shopping centres in select European countries with re-leasing, repositioning or expansion opportunities.
Target properties fulfil the following criteria:
-
EUR 100-400 million of value per centre (EUR 50-200 million of equity)
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Situated in an urban or integrated location with a minimum designated catchment area of at least 200,000 inhabitants
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Dominant in its local market/sub-market with a size of at least 25,000 sqm GLA
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High visibility, good accessibility and provision of on-site parking
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Featuring multiple tenants (at least 50 retail units) and with a potential to be a one-stop shopping location
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Single ownership with centralised management
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High targeted sales per square metre relative to geographic-specified metrics
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No ground-up developments
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No minority interests
„Existing dominant
shopping centres
with potential for operational value creation.“
„Branded hotels
with value-add
potential.“
Our investment focus
on Hotels
Internationally branded or brandable business hotels or projects with value-add potential in major European cities or leisure concepts in metropolitan areas with restructuring, repositioning or expansion opportunities or potentially forward funding of new developments.
Within this framework, we pursue both income-focused and value-add strategies, tailored to investor objectives and market conditions.
Target properties fulfil the following criteria:
-
EUR 30-100 million of value per asset
-
Situated in an urban or integrated location with a minimum population of circa 500,000 inhabitants and 1 million overnight stays p.a.
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Strong locations with good transport infrastructure and access to demand drivers, corporate and leisure with 100 rooms
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Dominant use as hotel, only minor other uses
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Preference to innovative, modern, digital brand concepts
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No ground up developments
-
No minority interests
