Europa Capital has begun to invest in core-plus real estate in Europe on behalf of its parent Mitsubishi Estate.

The investment manager, part-owned by Mitsubishi’s Rockefeller Group International and traditionally known as a value-added fund manager, has bought an office building in Munich.

The acquisition of the 22,000sqm multi-let office building in Unterfohring, Munich, marks the start of a core-plus investment programme for the Japanese real estate developer.

 said it would look to bring in third-party investors once the strategy had built up β€œcritical mass”.

Nic Fox, partner at Europa Capital in Germany, said: β€œThis off-market acquisition marks the beginning of a new product line in a lower risk area from our pan-European value-add funds.

The investment manager will initially focus on German cities before moving onto other European core office markets.

Its first asset, a property at Feringastrasse 10-12, was sold by Ekistics Property Investors 1, a value-added private equity real estate fund.

Fox said: β€œWe strongly believe in the continuing performance of the German economy and property market and intend to assemble a diversified portfolio, attractive to institutional investors”.

Yuichiro Shioda, managing director and chief executive of Mitsubishi Estate London, said: β€œThe real estate fundamentals underpinning both this building and the wider Munich office market make this an excellent initial acquisition for the new partnership with Europa Capital.

β€œAs we build this new portfolio, we will be targeting further acquisitions in similarly strong markets across continental Europe.”