• The new company specia­li­ses in asset manage­ment for existing proper­ties with a focus on „manage-to-green“
• Focus on insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors such as foun­da­ti­ons, pension funds, insu­rance compa­nies and family offices
• VIVAO launches with around 3 billion euros in assets under manage­ment

Munich, Hamburg, 2 October 2023. Joining forces for the future: QUEST Invest­ment Partners and Competo Capital Partners have founded VIVAO Invest­ment und Asset Manage­ment GmbH. Both compa­nies are bringing their existing fund and asset manage­ment mandates for existing proper­ties into the newly founded company. The aim is to use the joint exper­tise to provide invest­ment and asset manage­ment for long-term real estate invest­ments as value manage­ment and to leverage creative ideas to increase the ecolo­gi­cal, economic and social value of real estate, thus actively shaping sustainable real estate invest­ments. A special focus is placed on „manage-to-green“ proper­ties. VI V AO provides custo­mi­sed solu­ti­ons within the frame­work of asset manage­ment for existing proper­ties, from the concept and planning stages through to capital struc­tu­ring, cons­truc­tion and marke­ting.

The new player on the market launches with around 3 billion euros in assets under manage­ment
The merging of the asset manage­ment acti­vi­ties creates a company with around 3 billion euros in assets under manage­ment. The 27 port­fo­lio proper­ties across Germany compri­sing appro­xi­m­ately 300,000 m² will be managed by a team of 20 expe­ri­en­ced real estate profes­sio­nals. The main focus is on addi­tio­nal insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors such as foun­da­ti­ons, pension schemes, insu­rance compa­nies and family offices with a parti­cu­lar emphasis on commer­cial and resi­den­tial proper­ties in German metro­po­li­tan cities. Head­quar­te­red in Munich and with addi­tio­nal loca­ti­ons in Hamburg, Berlin and Frank­furt, the company will commence opera­ti­ons by 1 January 2024 at the latest. The employees working in asset manage­ment at both compa­nies will be trans­fer­red to the new company. Mr. Theja Geyer, Mr. Thomas Pscherer and Mr. Andreas Lutz will manage the opera­ti­ons of VIVAO.

Theja Geyer, Managing Partner at QUEST Invest­ment Partners and at VIVAO: “Active asset manage­ment plays an incre­asingly important role today. Be it refur­bish­ment for energy effi­ci­ency, opti­mi­sed energy consump­tion and tenant struc­tures or the conver­sion of older spaces into modern, flexible work envi­ron­ments: inves­tors of existing proper­ties urgently need to address all these issues. It is the only way to secure the value of their assets. With our combined expe­ri­ence and exper­tise, we will crea­tively and effi­ci­ently generate, manage and further develop sustainable value. In doing so, we focus in parti­cu­lar on manage-to-green projects. “

Thomas Pscherer, Managing Partner at Competo Capital Partners and at VIVAO: “Many existing proper­ties are facing major chal­lenges: they have to be sustain­ably designed for the future, operated in a climate-friendly way and adapted to constantly evolving legal requi­re­ments. This is where our exper­tise as an asset manager for high-quality real estate comes into play, enabling us to provide targeted support. Our combined know-how means that, as a bigger player, we can offer even better and more compre­hen­sive services and accom­pany a property throug­hout its entire life cycle. This is how we ensure sustainable prac­ti­ces – from the very begin­ning.“

Andreas Lutz, Member of the Execu­tive Board at Competo Capital Partners and Managing Director at VIVAO: „VIVAO’s new struc­ture enables us to develop and imple­ment solu­ti­ons tailored to the needs of our inves­tors in a dynamic and volatile invest­ment climate. “

The merger also means that VIVAO can offer its inves­tors a broad range of services under one roof for existing proper­ties: Competo, which has had its own regu­la­ted invest­ment manage­ment company, Competo Capital Invest, since January 2021, provides cost-effi­ci­ent invest­ment struc­tures, QUEST Energy provides climate-friendly solar energy via photo­vol­taic systems on roofs, and QUEST Property Manage­ment provides sustainable building manage­ment.

As a bigger player, VIVAO intends to speci­fi­cally exploit the growth oppor­tu­ni­ties for asset managers in the area of existing proper­ties, while the two parent compa­nies will continue to focus on their core compe­ten­cies: QUEST on project deve­lo­p­ment, Competo on equity and mezza­nine loan invest­ments in real estate projects in Germany. In this segment, the two owner- operated compa­nies have already realised joint projects - curr­ently the Kreisler office building in Frank­furt, the new head­quar­ters of Nestlé Germany.

About VIVAO
VIVAO Invest­ment und Asset Manage­ment GmbH is a specia­li­sed real estate asset and invest­ment manage­ment company head­quar­te­red in Munich with offices in Hamburg, Berlin and Frank­furt. The company manages existing proper­ties for insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors such as foun­da­ti­ons, pension funds, insu­rance compa­nies and family offices with the aim of sustain­ably moder­ni­s­ing the buil­dings for the future and opti­mi­sing their attrac­ti­ve­ness and value through active manage­ment. The port­fo­lio, which focuses on office and resi­den­tial proper­ties, amounts to around 3 billion euros. VI V AO’s share­hol­ders are the owner - operated real estate compa­nies Competo Capital Partners and QUEST Invest­ment Partners.

About QUEST Invest­ment Partners
QUEST Invest­ment Partners is an owner-operated real estate invest­ment company. Its offices are located in Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and Frank­furt. With a port­fo­lio of around €3.4 billion in assets under manage­ment, the company which is a signa­tory to the UN Prin­ci­ples of Respon­si­ble Invest­ment focuses on invest­ments in commer­cial proper­ties with upside poten­tial in selected loca­ti­ons of major German cities. QUEST Deve­lo­p­ment develops and finances high-quality real estate projects both inde­pendently and in coope­ra­tion with co-inves­tors. QUEST Funds is respon­si­ble for the fund business, while the team at QUEST Property Manage­ment handles around 550,000 m² of usable space in its own and third-party projects. QUEST Energy supplies CO2-free energy: the company installs and operates photo­vol­taic systems on the roofs and exterior surfaces of buil­dings.
For further infor­ma­tion please visit www.quest-investment.com

About Competo Capital Partners
Competo Capital Partners GmbH is a manager-owned and inde­pen­dent invest­ment and asset manage­ment company based in Munich. The company’s core compe­tence includes tailored equity invest­ments in German property deve­lo­p­ments using equity capital and mezza­nine loans, but also long-term invest­ments in proper­ties-in-use. In this line of business, Competo manages the accounts of a selected number of insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors who consist almost exclu­si­vely of foun­da­ti­ons and family offices.
In the deve­lo­p­ments segment, Competo Capital Partners buys into selected property deve­lo­p­ments of expe­ri­en­ced German deve­lo­pers in the segments office, resi­den­tial, retail, logi­stics and hotel by commit­ting equity and mezza­nine capital. By setting up the AIFM company Competo Capital Invest GmbH (KVG), Competo trans­fer­red its mezza­nine business, which has prospe­red since 2014, into a closed-end loanfund. Theaverageequityinvestmentportfolioconsistsof15equityinvestmentswithacombined invest­ment total of more than one billion euros along with 20 mezza­nine loans in a volume of c. 1.6 billion euros at the moment – together adding up to an invest­ment total of c. 2.6 billion euros.
In the proper­ties-in-use segment, Competo curr­ently has a port­fo­lio of 18 assets in the cities of Munich, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Frank­furt, Mainz, Stutt­gart and Ulm under manage­ment as invest­ment and asset manager whose combined invest­ment volume exceeds 1.3 billion euros. This brings the total invest­ment volume under Competo’s manage­ment in the real estate sector just under four billion euros.
For more details, go to www.competo-cp.de

f.l.t.r.: Andreas Lutz, Theja Geyer, Thomas Pscherer
Copy­right: Nell Killius