Schroders has made a €28m (£18.8m) swoop for Aareal Asset Management, it was revealed this morning.

Aareal Asset Management will form part of Schroders’ fast-growing property division, whose assets under management have grown from £200m to £7.6bn in less than 15 years.

The acquisition will raise the value of assets managed by Schroders by £1.3bn and will boost its presence in several key European markets, including Amsterdam, Milan, Luxembourg and Stockholm.

Under terms of the deal, Schroders has agreed to buy a further €21.4m (£14.4m) of properties owned by investors in a number of Aareal’s European funds.

William Hill, Schroders head of property, said: ‘This acquisition is an important component of our strategy to offer international products to our client base. What attracted us to Aareal Asset Management was the entrepreneurial nature of its management, its investment platform in the major Europena markets and the excellent fit with our own business.’