List of 3 French Real Estate Investment Managers

Below, three French real estate investment managers will be discussed. The French real estate market continues to rebuild to pre-pandemic levels, according to Notaires de France the volume of transactions reached 1,116,000 at the end of November 2022. Thus, representing value for future investments in the sector for the investment managers included in this article that can be found on our list of the largest French real estate investors.

1) AXA Investment Managers (Puteaux, France)

AXA is the investment division of the French multinational insurance company AXA Group. The investment arm has been operating for over 30 years and its workforce includes 470 employees that operate in offices located in the US, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Currently, the firm has €189bn of assets under management located across 139 projects. AXA adopts to take equity stakes in listed and unlisted real estate in order to develop a capital appreciation and generate rental income. Their strategy is founded upon four pillars: AXA Core (open-ended real estate across Europe), residential, logistics, and forestry. In July 2022, the firm acquired a new 58,0000 site in Barcelona which will act as a logistics hub due to its location and transport routes.

2) Real Estate BNP Paribas (Boulogne-Billancourt, France)

BNP is a global real estate giant that is active across various sectors of real estate including: property development, transaction, consulting, valuation, property management, and investment management. The firm is comprised of 5,300 employees located across 30 countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Currently, BNP has 48.8m sqmt of commercial real estate under management in Europe which places them as one of the leading property managers in Europe. In March 2023, the firm acquired the 4Urban logistic portfolio from the Austrian group Frasers Property Industrial. The 71,00sqmt portfolio is comprised of one asset in the city of Vienna, two assets at Vienna airport, and another in a business park located in Graz. The portfolio was acquired by BNP’s European Impact Property Fund (EIPF) which works in compliance with the 2015 Paris Agreement to reduce emissions in all of its assets.

3) Primonial REIM (Paris, France)

The Parisian group is a leading European real estate management firm that specializes in office, healthcare, education, retail, residential, and hotel assets. The firm has developed a portfolio with €34.8bn assets under management, which are located across 10 countries. Primonial has launched 61 investment funds and attracted 80,000 investors. The French group is focused on selecting assets that comply with ESG standards and 100% of their office investments undergo a strict ESG financial rating process. In February 2023, the firm announced the acquisition of a portfolio consisting of healthcare assets on behalf of its SCPI Primovie fund. The portfolio is comprised of 12 assets which total 78,600sqmt.

Picture source: Abbe Sublett (04.05.2023)