German insurance company Gothaer increases its investment in Syntrus Achmea’s residential mortgage fund

Two years following its initial mandate to invest in Dutch mortgages, Gothaer Asset Management has decided to increase its investment in the residential mortgage fund managed by Syntrus Achmea Real Estate & Finance by a further €20 million.

“The excellent performance of Syntrus Achmea’s residential mortgage fund has had a favourable impact on the overall risk-return profile of our portfolio,” says Christof Kessler, CEO of Gothaer Asset Management, a division of German insurer Gothaer. “Consequently, we decided to increase our investments in Dutch residential mortgages, with Syntrus Achmea continuing to be one of our three important partners in this asset class.”

The residential mortgage fund managed by Syntrus Achmea Real Restate & Finance, a division of Dutch insurer Achmea, on behalf of more than 50 institutional investors, currently exceeds €12 billion. Gothaer Asset Management was the first foreign investor to commit to this fund with an initial investment of €500 million. Last year, Syntrus Achmea acquired €1.5 billion of new mandates for the largest mortgage fund in the Netherlands.

“We are delighted that after two years of successful partnership, Gothaer Asset Management continues to have confidence in us”, says Arthur van der Wal, CEO of Syntrus Achmea. “This expansion of the mandate by Gothaer demonstrates the appeal of Dutch residential mortgages as an asset class offering an attractive risk-return profile compared to other liquid fixed-income investments in the eurozone area. We are proud that the investment in our residential mortgage fund favourably contributes to Gothaer’s portfolio composition, and we are looking forward to continuing our partnership.”

“Gothaer and Achmea have collaborated for many years as part of Eurapco, an alliance of eight cooperative insurers in Europe. We are very pleased that we can also continue our partnership by further assisting Gothaer in its investments strategy”, adds Bianca Tetteroo, Chair of the Executive Board of Achmea, one of the largest insurers in the Netherlands.