Austrian investment manager GalCap might soon reach EUR one billion of assets under management. Despite the war in Ukraine, their outlook on Central & Eastern Europe remains positive. Since its founding seven years ago, GalCap raised about EUR 750 million in capital from institutional investors. Given their latest success, GalCap will soon add another large mandate by a pension fund from the German-speaking region. “The mark of one billion is within reach,” Marco Kohla, Managing Partner of GalCap, told Immobilien Zeitung at Mipim in Cannes in March. Investment targets are primarily residential buildings and, to a lesser extent, office properties in Austria.
GalCap, with a team of 13 employees, maintains long-standing networks in Central & Eastern Europe and is active in Budapest, Warsaw, and Prague, too. In the light of the ongoing war in Ukraine, investors have become more cautious in this region, especially in Poland. Managing Partner Manfred Wiltschnigg believes this is a temporary phenomenon: “We know the region well and are less concerned,” he says. For the time being, however, GalCap is taking a more cautious approach when it comes to new investments.
Before the escalation in Ukraine, GalCap had structured an investment fund vehicle to invest in residential real estate in Poland. “Poland has huge demand for high-quality housing,” Kohla explains. The implementation of these plans is put on hold for now but is expected to move forward once the situation has stabilized. “As soon as no more bullets are fired, the markets will recover,” Wiltschnigg is convinced. “Confidence will return there very quickly to the region.”
By Ulrich Schüppler from Immobilien Zeitung 13/2022 (translated by GalCap)
Source: Immobilien Zeitung, 31.03.2022.