Becken founds retail subsidiary and appoints Marcus Neumann as managing director

Neumann has around 25 years of experience in the retail real estate sector along the entire spectrum of retail properties. Before joining Becken, he was Managing Director of Arbireo Retail Invest GmbH. Further stations included management positions at Jones Lang LaSalle, CBRE, CEV Handelsimmobilien, RATISBONA Handelsimmobilien and Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate.

Becken Retail GmbH focuses on project development opportunities for retail real estate with a focus on food retailing and on the acquisition of existing specialist retail centres and hypermarkets with potential for conversion or refurbishment. Not only local supply locations within and outside the city centres and in smaller communities are considered, but also high street and city centre locations.

Marcus Neumann says: “Investors are showing a growing interest in retail core products in the food retail sector. At the same time, the supply of these properties is scarce. We would like to close this gap in demand with Becken Retail.” Neumann adds: “In the future, we would also like to look at commercial buildings and shopping centres, provided that the price structure here returns to a level in line with the market, which includes the influences of online trading and shorter contract periods, among other things”. Dieter Becken, Managing Partner of Becken Holding GmbH, adds: “The system-relevant food retail trade has proven to be resistant to online trading and thus an attractive asset class for investors. According to the EHI Retail Institute, the online share here is only 1.0 percent. Especially in inner-city locations we see great potential for residential project developments in combination with a supermarket on the ground floor and possibly small logistics hubs. With Marcus Neumann, we have an experienced expert in this field on board to realize real estate that has its finger on the pulse of the times”.