DWS has signed a binding agreement to buy 100% of Peakside Capital Advisors, which specialises in value-add and opportunistic real estate investment in Germany and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Peakside manages more than €1.7bn in assets, mainly for institutional investors.
Peakside is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, and has operations in Germany, Luxembourg and Poland. It invests across offices, retail, logistics and residential, mainly through its PREF fund series. The business will join DWS’s European real estate division, led by Clemens Schaefer. The deal will broaden DWS’s offering in Germany and add capabilities in CEE.
DWS CEO Stefan Hoops called the acquisition “an important step to strengthen our alternative assets platform”. He said it shows that real estate is a core part of DWS’s alternatives offering and an asset class the firm wants to grow.
Management stays on
Peakside’s owners, Stefan Aumann, Boris Schran and Simon Lutz, will stay with the business after completion, as will Frank Schäfer and Karol Maziukiewicz from the management team. The companies expect the rest of the team to stay as well.
Founder and Managing Partner Stefan Aumann said that combining Peakside’s investment experience with DWS’s client relationships, distribution and global platform creates “significant opportunities” to grow the business. His fellow founder Boris Schran said clients and existing investments will remain the firm’s focus, and that the team intends to keep its “entrepreneurial DNA”.
The deal is expected to complete by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
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*Offer ends on Friday, 7th February.
