8 August 2017 – Qatar, Doha -  The First Investor (“TFI”), a subsidiary of Barwa Bank Group and the leading Qatari closed shareholding investment banking firm, recently announced the completion of the acquisition of a prime Stuttgart office property via its TFI Europe Income Fund (“The Fund”). 

Located in Stuttgart and leased to one of the leading German Automotive Groups. This investment is in line with TFI's strategy to identify attractive opportunities in developed markets like Germany and the UK, where it has already made considerable investments.

The Fund, a close ended Shariah-compliant real state fund was recently established by TFI and Inovalis with the focus on investing in the income generating commercial real estate assets in highly lucrative European markets. For the Stuttgart acquisition, the Fund partnered with Inovalis REIT, a Real Estate Investment Trust listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Fund aims to secure another Grade A assets during current year. The acquisition aims also to provide a stable income stream with strong rental growth prospects and it is expected to distribute dividends in the range of 6-7% net to the investors. 

“There are many real estate investment opportunities in Europe these days especially at current Euro/USD exchange rate and relatively inexpensive external financing. However, TFI and its partner cherry pick quality assets with higher return and low risk correlation. Stuttgart asset is but the founding asset in our TFI Euro Income Fund”, said Mr. Houssam Kharbotli, TFI Chief Executive Officer. 

From his part, Mr. Stephane Amine, Chairman of Inovalis SA said: ‘’we are pleased to have partnered with TFI and together we will demonstrate high level of commitment towards achieving excellence in our business practices and partnerships. Inovalis through its wide spread presence in Europe and North America will continue to source quality transactions for benefit of the Fund investors’’.