Armin Hafner

Armin Hafner, CFA, CAIA · Zurich, Switzerland

Eleven years investing in and underwriting private market assets — from transaction advisory and valuation to principal investing, investment strategy and vehicle structuring.

Investment Solutions & Strategy Manager at PURE Group. Real assets specialist with experience across direct investments, joint ventures, co-investments and investment vehicles. CFA and CAIA charterholder, and Certified Real Estate Investment Analyst (IREBS / DVFA).

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Profile

My professional experience combines transaction advisory and valuation with principal-side investment management and the development and structuring of investment solutions for institutional and private capital. Over the past eleven years I have worked across several areas of the investment business, with a particular focus on real estate and real assets.

That experience ranges from the analysis and valuation of individual investments, through portfolio and corporate transactions, to contributing to investment strategy and structuring investment vehicles, joint ventures and co-investments. I have worked from both the advisory and the investor perspective, and in different roles have been involved in assessing and implementing investment decisions.

My core expertise is in real estate, and in real assets more broadly. Beyond that, my interest lies in the wider questions of private markets — capital allocation, investment structuring and the strategic development of investment platforms.

Based
Zurich, Switzerland
Coverage
Switzerland, Germany, Austria · European transactions
Credentials
CFA charterholder · CAIA charterholder · CREA (IREBS / DVFA)
Investment focus
Private markets · real assets · real estate equity · co-investments · investment vehicles
Asset-class expertise
Residential · office · retail · hospitality · mixed-use · development
Structures
Direct investments · indirect investments · joint ventures · co-investments · club deals · private equity real estate · funds and investment vehicles · SPVs · asset and share deals
Investment spectrum
Core through opportunistic
Languages
German (native), English (C1/C2)
Member of
CFA Institute, CAIA Association

Experience

2025to present

PURE Group

Zug, Switzerland
  • Investment Solutions & Strategy Manager Sep 2025 – present
  • Design investment solutions across core, value-add and opportunistic real estate strategies for institutional and semi-professional investors, translating investor requirements into investable structures and deployment frameworks.
  • Structure SPVs, joint ventures, club deals and co-investment vehicles, including commercial architecture, investor participation, governance and alignment mechanisms.
  • Develop a repeatable structuring and tax framework for private investment vehicles, including coordination of a formal ruling process with the competent tax authority.
  • Assess investment propositions, business plans and potential partners and translate them into materials for investors, internal decision-makers and external counterparties.
  • Support investor development and third-party mandate origination across real assets and private market investment solutions.
  • Coordinate across investors, owners, independent valuers, advisers, brokers, contractors and internal legal, finance and development functions.
2021to 2025

Implenia Schweiz AG

Division Real Estate · Opfikon, Zurich
  • Team Lead Investment Management Apr 2023 – May 2025
  • Senior Investment Manager Apr 2021 – Apr 2023
  • Led principal-side investment management across Switzerland and Germany, screening and underwriting an investment universe exceeding CHF 2 billion.
  • Owned underwriting and investment committee materials for more than CHF 400 million of investment opportunities across direct acquisitions, share deals and joint venture structures.
  • Led multidisciplinary due diligence across commercial, financial, legal, tax and technical workstreams and integrated the findings into investment recommendations.
  • Evaluated investments across risk, return, capital structure, development assumptions, downside scenarios and strategic fit.
  • Co-authored divisional investment strategy and capital deployment priorities, including a counter-cyclical investment stance in Germany following the post-2021 repricing.
  • Led and developed the investment management team and introduced structured screening and decision processes to improve investment pipeline execution.
2015to 2021

PwC Austria

Deals Financial Services Real Estate · Vienna
  • Manager Oct 2018 – Mar 2021
  • Senior Consultant Oct 2016 – Oct 2018
  • Consultant Apr 2015 – Sep 2016
  • Advised investors, corporates and asset owners on private market transactions through commercial due diligence, valuation and transaction analysis across both asset and share deals.
  • Delivered buy-side and sell-side workstreams on national and cross-border transactions reaching triple-digit million transaction values, including prime office and pan-European retail portfolios.
  • Performed company, asset and portfolio valuations and produced fairness opinions supporting transaction, ownership and capital-allocation decisions.
  • Analysed business plans, cash flows, value drivers, transaction structures and downside risks across real estate companies, projects and portfolios.
  • Designed and implemented an investment-performance framework for the CFO of an international developer with a project portfolio exceeding EUR 500 million.
  • Developed deep specialist expertise in real estate valuation, market analysis and regulatory constraints, including the Viennese investment market and Austrian tenancy law.

Selected investments, transactions and mandates

Mandate Investment context Sector Scale My role
Collective investment vehicle for institutional investors Principal / Structuring Swiss real estate In structuring Structuring of the vehicle, its governance and regulatory architecture.
Club deal vehicle and tax framework Co-investment / Structuring Swiss real estate Repeatable Designed the co-investment structure, governance and tax framework through a formal ruling process.
Swiss and German investment pipeline Principal investment Residential, mixed-use CHF 2bn screened Principal-side underwriting lead; investment analysis and investment committee recommendation.
Developer performance framework Portfolio analytics Mixed-use development EUR 500m+ Designed and implemented the CFO reporting tool.
European retail portfolio disposal Portfolio transaction / Sell-side Retail Triple-digit m Real estate workstream within the operational vendor due diligence team. Transaction closed.
Prime office acquisition, Vienna Direct investment / Buy-side Office Triple-digit m Real estate workstream within the operational due diligence team. Transaction closed.

Counterparties, asset names and commercial terms are withheld under the applicable confidentiality undertakings. Further detail can be discussed only to the extent disclosure is permitted.

Investment credentials and education

Professional

  • CFA CharterholderCFA Institute, October 2026
  • CAIA CharterholderChartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association, 2023
  • CREA — Certified Real Estate Investment Analyst (IREBS / DVFA)Deutsche Vereinigung für Finanzanalyse und Asset Management, 2018–2019

Academic

  • Master of Arts — Business Consultancy and Strategic Management, Real Estate ManagementUniversity of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, 2012–2014. Exchange semester in finance and financial management services, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Moscow, 2014.
  • Master’s thesisEcclesiastical real estate management of the Catholic Church in Austria: utilisation strategies for vacant presbyteries.
  • Bachelor of Arts — Investment Consultancy & Corporate Finance, Real Estate ManagementUniversity of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, 2009–2012

Private investing

My wife and I invest selectively in early-stage private companies operating in real estate, financial infrastructure and adjacent sectors. We focus on businesses where the underlying economics, governance and capital structure can be analysed rather than on purely consumer-led concepts.

I apply the same investment discipline at smaller scale that I use professionally: understanding the business model, testing assumptions, assessing downside risk, reviewing governance and identifying the conditions under which additional capital may be required.

We invest jointly and take a long-term minority-investor perspective. We do not require operational control or a board seat, but we expect governance, investor rights and alignment to be clearly defined before capital is committed.

Sector
Real estate operating businesses · investment and financial platforms · adjacent infrastructure
Stage
Pre-seed through Series A
Geography
Switzerland · DACH · Southern Europe
Instrument
Equity or convertible securities
Investment approach
Fundamental underwriting · minority ownership · long-term capital
Decision
Joint investment decision
Out of scope
Single-asset SPVs · brokerage roll-ups · structures without completed diligence or defined governance

Open to an exchange on investments, private capital and real asset strategies.

armin.hafner@armhaf.com Email linkedin.com/in/armhaf LinkedIn Curriculum vitae, one page Download PDF