Corporate overview
FREO Group is a real estate and private markets investment manager with a predominantly international institutional client base. Since its establishment, FREO has distinguished itself through its long-standing and highly successful cooperation with established international investment houses, sovereign wealth funds and large insurance companies.
The FREO Group has been active in Europe since 2015 with 11 offices and more than 80 qualified real estate and finance professionals who are highly experienced in the areas of investment, asset management and leasing, debt and equity structuring and fund management.
FREO has worked on more than 60 projects totalling 2.4m sqm across Europe and the US.
Its vertically integrated business model and cohesive team of experienced local experts across its selected markets enables FREO to find relative value throughout the real estate cycle. The company provides a comprehensive asset management service tailored to the needs of its investors and covers the complete property lifecycle, including proprietary asset sourcing, prudent capital structuring, identifica- tion of value creation opportunities, and opportunistic disposals.
With the appointment of Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leser as CIO and partner for the FREO Group and as CEO for FREO Germany GmbH in 2022, the company has expanded its client focus to further develop the German and European institutional investor base. FREO’s product range will be expanded towards private markets, ESG and institutional AIF funds.
FREO is privately owned by its senior management; the structure aligns the interest of partners and ensures their full focus on the successful execution of projects and funds.
Investment principles & strategy
Private markets are complex.
Moreover, they are characterised by high information and transaction costs and therefore less efficient than highly liquid asset classes such as equities and bonds .
At the same time, private markets offer excellent opportunities to achieve very good and sustainable returns through active management. Indeed, active management plays an important role. Yet, it is resource intensive and demanding.
To this end, FREO Group’s structure and investment processes have been set up to capture and translate potential inefficiencies in order to generate an excellent risk-return mix for its clients:
- The company invests side by side with its clients (co-invests) in private market projects
- The personal income of company key decision makers is largely dependent on the success of client investments and projects
- FREO employs and works with highly successful colleagues who distin- guish themselves by their proven and quantifiable track records
- FREO only invests in markets and projects where the company holds long- term, proven expertise and is represented on site by experienced and successful colleagues (this is both true on a country and asset class level).
Strategic corporate development
We plan to position FREO wider and continue to focus even more strongly on our core competence.
This competence is made up of three pillars:
First, FREO expands its proven real estate investment strategies that cover core-plus, value-add and opportunistic schemes further. From now on, institutional clients such as pension funds, foundations and insurance companies will be able to invest in our products through segregated mandates.
Second, we will introduce our separate investment company focusing on private market investments (ex-real estate) to institutional clients. Avelios Group offers products, eg, in infrastructure and renewable projects based on an excellent track record.
Third, we are launching our latest addition: the Green Only Development- StrategyTM is now available across various European countries. FREO and ETH Zürich research together concerning world class building material solutions and new architectural approaches in order to significantly reduce building and operational costs as well as carbon emissions. FREO thus provides a practical depth to the subject of ESG by strategically ‘futureproofing’ our already successful development projects further.
Performance verification
FREO has a remarkable track record: we have consistently outperformed on our real estate projects across our investment strategies. The internal rate of return (IRR) per annum based on realised and sold projects has been 19% since 2004 (since inception of the internal tracking procedure, as attested by external auditors).
COMPLIANCE STATEMENT
This information is for professional investors only and does not constitute an offer solicitation or an invitation to make an offer with respect to (i) the purchase, acquisition or sale of any assets, shares, securities or other products of any nature or (ii) the provision of services or (iii) any other legal transaction. FREO Group is a business name of FREO Group S.A. and is used by other companies within FREO Group. FREO Group S.A. is registered in Luxembourg with registration number B181015 and registered address of 6A, route de Trèves, L - 2633 Senningerberg, Luxembourg.
