Arete Invest, a Czech fast-growing fund focussed on real estate investment, has published its audited results for last year. Gross revenues of the currently open-ended Arete Invest CEE II sub-fund for 2017 amounted to a high 44.2%, resulting in cumulated gross revenue of 82.2%. As in the previous year, investors received an annual distribution of 6%. The value of assets managed by the sub-fund almost tripled over the course of the year, from 24 to 70 million EUR. The detailed audit according to the new, stricter rules was carried out by auditors from Deloitte.
“The past year was very successful for us. We managed to double the value of assets in our management, multiplied the number of investors and further diversified our portfolio and maintained above-standard yields for investors. The results reflect the potential of the Czech and Slovak investment environment in the area of real estate and highly exceed the market results,” said Robert Ides, co-founder of the Arete Invest fund. “In coming years, we hope to offer our investors above-standard appreciation. We will also continue to maintain the promise we gave them, and pay them a part of the yields on a quarterly basis, as per tradition.”
In the past year, only the Arete Invest CEE II sub-fund was active. It was established in 2016 and is gradually creating a homogenous portfolio of profitable industrial real estate high a superior standard. The expected value of managed assets in this sub-fund in the course of the forecasted five-year investment cycle is EUR 200 mn. The sub-fund aims for the continuous appreciation of investors’ resources at up to 11% per annum, whereas up to 6% of this makes up the cash distributions paid on a quarterly basis. The current return far exceeds these forecasted values.
In the course of 2017, a total of four acquisitions were finalised, of which three in Slovakia and one in the Czech Republic. The leasable area of assets in the sub-fund’s management thus increased to almost triple, and diversification improved both from a geographic and sector perspective. “We are working on other acquisitions and also preparing some of our compounds in the Czech Republic and Slovakia for new construction, which will further increase the value of our portfolio. In the coming months, we plan to invest tens of millions of euros,” said Lubor Svoboda, co-founder of the Arete Invest fund.
In the middle of last year, the Arete Invest fund garnered the prestigious Czech Top 100 – Special Award for innovation and transparency on the investment market of the Czech Republic. The main reasons were credit for attracting foreign capital to the Czech Republic, the highly transparent approach to investors applying international standards, yet under the supervision of the Czech National Bank due to the fund’s local registration, the ongoing distribution of money at 6% per year and the short investment cycle of the first sub-fund with an audited result of more than 100% profit for shareholders in merely 18 months.
