Reech AiM Group, an asset management group with offices in London and Luxembourg, has acquired Aurea Real Estate, an investment and advisory firm with offices in Paris and Madrid, through its subsidiary Reech REIM.
Aurea Real Estate was founded in 2009 and is a real estate investment manager with EUR100m of assets under management.
As part of Reech REIM, the team will focus on offering investors value added propositions in the real estate sector through funds, segregated accounts and club deals. Reech REIM will now be comprised of the indirect real estate team, which currently manages the Iceberg fund, and the private equity real estate team.
As part of the acquisition, Maxime Barkatz, founder of Aurea Real Estate, has joined the Reech AiM Group as a partner. Prior to launching Aurea, Barkatz was a managing director and partner at French REIT Affine, where he started and managed the development subsidiary of the company in the Iberian Peninsula. From 2003 to 2005, he worked with management consulting firm TCBR (formerly TCBR Altran) in São Paulo, Brazil.
Christophe Reech (pictured), chairman and CEO, Reech AiM Group, says: “The acquisition of Aurea and the expertise which Maxime brings to the team underline our commitment to growing the Reech REIM business within the group. A two speed market has developed with core investments being treated by investors as an inflation hedge and a means of providing capital protection, and secondary investments being characterised by illiquidity and a lack of financing. This is providing opportunities which we are excited to be exploring, and we expect to announce developments in due course.”
Barkatz says: “We are happy to be joining the Reech AiM Group, with whom we share a vision for innovation and entrepreneurship. The experience and expertise of the team at Reech will give us stronger access to capital markets and to sophisticated risk management and hedging tools.”