Aukera lends €130 million for mixed-use Luxembourg project

An impression of the mixed-use Luxembourg project

German-based investment management firm Aukera Real Estate is lending €130 million to Connection Property Development to complete a mixed-use Luxembourg project.

The senior secured facility will be used to finance CONNECTION, an office/retail mixed-use property being marketed by Silverfinch Property & Asset Management. The money is being lent from the Aukera Real Estate Debt Fund.

The mixed-use Luxembourg project at Rue de Bitbourg 21-25 with around 49,400 square meters of rental space is due to be completed by the end of the year.

The building is a Nearly Zero-Energy Building (NZEB) with a BREEAM sustainability rating of “Excellent” and also an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of “AAA”.

The Green Core asset will remain in Connection’s long-term investment portfolio. Half of the property is pre-let.

Florian Niebur, Investment Manager at Aukera Real Estate, says, “With this bridge-to-exit financing for a prime mixed-use project carrying a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’, we were able to provide a credit facility at attractive conditions backed by a sustainable and future-proof asset as collateral, thereby taking optimal advantage of current market conditions for the benefit of our investors.”

Kindy Fritsch, Managing Director at Connection Property Development S.A, says, “The financing is enabling us to increase the value of this Green Core property asset in a difficult market environment while also permitting an optimally timed exit through a subsequent refinancing once the project is completed and stabilised.

“CONNECTION is set for completion by the end of the year as scheduled, and lease marketing is proceeding at full speed.”

With this 15th successfully closed financing transaction, the total lending volume by Aukera since its incorporation in July 2020 is €1.52 billion.