Union Investment (Real Estate)

Union Investment is a leading international investment company, providing customised real estate solutions to meet the requirements of private and institutional asset allocation. Union Investment currently has assets under management totalling around €47.4bn in actively managed funds and €10.2bn in service and pooling mandates.

Established in 1965, Hamburg-based Union Investment Real Estate GmbH is the specialist for private real estate investment within the Union Investment Group. Its sister company, Union Investment Institutional Property GmbH, focuses on real estate investment for institutional customers.

The portfolios of Union Investment’s open-ended real estate funds comprise some 500 properties and projects in Germany and other European countries, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. Within the commercial real estate sector, Union Investment is active as an institutional investor and asset manager.

Investment principles & strategy

Union Investment stands for forward-looking real estate investments worldwide. Our business model is underpinned by 55 years of real estate expertise. With assets under management of around €58bn, Union Investment is one of Europe’s leading real estate investment managers. The company invests in the office, retail, hospitality, logistics and residential sectors and holds around 500 commercial properties across 26 countries worldwide in its portfolio.

To spread risk and enhance performance, the company has a strict policy of investing in a mix of uses, regions and property sizes. The company’s hotel portfolio consists of 91 properties with a total value of €7.2bn. Some €10bn is invested in 89 retail properties across 16 European countries.

Since 2002, the company has expanded into 20 new markets, including Mexico, Singapore and Australia. Approximately 57% of its property assets are located in countries outside the domestic market.

For many years, Union Investment has had a strong focus on sustainable real estate. We consider sustainability in terms of cost efficiency, user comfort, location and construction quality, as well as energy efficiency. Sustainability thus becomes a quantifiable factor, which we track through collecting data on individual properties and entire portfolios. We operate a portal on sustainable real estate investment that showcases the latest trends and provides essential background information. Union Investment’s holdings today incorporate some 163 properties with national or international certificates for sustainable building with a current market value of €23.5bn.

Since 2012, the company has expanded into the infrastructure space with a renewable energy fund. Since 2020, Union Investment has expanded its strategic position in key residential property markets outside the DACH region, such as Amsterdam, Dublin and Helsinki.

Strategic corporate development

Union Investment aims to progressively expand its product range for institutional customers by creating more special funds for bundling indirect property investments and providing property administration services. The strategic corporate development is building on: