AEW Europe, one of the world’s largest real estate investment and asset managers[1], announces the off-market acquisition of a 10,900 sqm newly built, fully let life sciences asset from Aventin Real Estate, in Gräfelfing, Munich, one of Germany’s and Europe’s leading life sciences hubs. This transaction marks AEW Europe’s first investment in Germany’s life sciences market.
This Grade A asset features modern and flexible office and highly efficient laboratory spaces across a six-storey building. It is fully let to three international leading life sciences companies and primary institutional-grade tenants. The asset has a WAULT of c. 10 years.
Constructed between 2022 and 2024, the building boasts strong sustainability credentials, including PV installations, district heating, e-charging facilities, and smart building and heating systems. It obtained the LEED Platinum certification[2].
Strategically situated in one of Germany’s foremost life sciences and biotech clusters, more than 450 life science companies are located within a 4 km radius of the asset. Notably, 21% of the country’s biotechnology firms are based in the Munich metropolitan area[3], which includes prominent companies such as GSK, Biogen, MSD, Moderna, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Occupants in this cluster also benefit from proximity to the Ludwig Maximilians-Universität München, the Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistry, the Max-Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence as well as the Innovation Centre of Biotechnology. The location offers excellent connectivity by road and public transport, including the A95 and A96 motorways and an S-Bahn link into Munich.
Jeffrey King, Senior Fund Manager at AEW Europe, commented: “This acquisition represents our first in the German life sciences sector and builds on our existing investments in this asset class in Denmark. The life sciences sector continues to thrive in Germany, supported by strong industry fundamentals, which are driving increasing demand from tenants for modern space situated in established life science and biotech hubs such as Gräfelfing. For these reasons, we maintain our conviction in this sector, which we believe offers an attractive risk-return profile for our investors. This investment seeks to continue to secure long-term and indexed income from three major players in this space.”
Niklas Räther, Head of Investment Germany at AEW Europe, added: “Munich remains one of AEW Europe’s key target markets in Germany, with strong fundamentals and proven liquidity across all real estate sectors. With this acquisition, we further strengthen our footprint in the market, adding an asset that underlines our commitment to a resilient, long-term real estate investment.”
AEW Europe was advised by Greenberg Traurig, Drees & Sommer and BNP Paribas Real Estate. Aventin Real Estate was advised by Sozelio Rechtsanwälte.
Photo credit: ©Aventin, AEW Europe.
[1] Source: 2025 IRE.IQ Real Estate Managers Guide”. The Guide, published annually by Institutional Real Estate, Inc., ranks real estate managers based on the gross value of real estate AUM ($m) as of December 31, 2024.
[2] The certification was obtained on 25th September 2025 from LEED independent rating agency (additional information are available here: https://www.usgbc.org/leed). AEW did not pay a fee for this certification. Additional information on ESG practices is available upon request.
[3] Source: https://www.munich-business.eu/standort-muenchen/brachenfokus/branche-life-sciences.html
About AEW
AEW is one of the world's largest real estate asset managers, with €73.8bn of assets under management as at 30 June 2025. AEW has over 860 employees, with its main offices located in Boston, London, Paris and Singapore and offers a wide range of real estate investment products including comingled funds, separate accounts and securities mandates across the full spectrum of investment strategies. AEW represents the real estate asset management platform of Natixis Investment Managers, one of the largest asset managers in the world.
As at 30 June 2025, AEW managed €35.8bn of real estate assets in Europe on behalf of a number of funds and separate accounts. AEW has over 520 employees based in 11 offices across Europe and has a long track record of successfully implementing Core, Value-Add and Opportunistic investment strategies on behalf of its clients. In the last five years, AEW has invested and divested a total volume of almost €15bn of real estate across European markets.
[1] Source: “2024 IREI.Q Real Estate Managers Guide”. The Guide, published annually by Institutional Real Estate, Inc., ranks real estate managers based on the gross value of real estate AUM ($m) as of December 31, 2023.