Global property manager Invesco Real Estate is to make a strategic investment in specialist project development and asset management company Logistics Capital Partners in a deal which the two firms say will enable LCP to roll out a €1 bn development programme over the next three to five years.
The agreement also provides scope for ‘significant additional funds to be invested in the future to expand the pipeline even further’, the companies said.
The new capital significantly strengthens LCP’s balance sheet and will be deployed directly into new development projects, the firm said in a statement.
Invesco managing director portfolio management Bert Crouch says the deal diversifies the firm’s portfolio within the pan-European logistics sector while increasing the opportunity for long-term, secure income and attractive total returns for clients.
LCP, which has offices and projects across five countries, specialises in large built-to-suit facilities and has developed about 350,000 m2 of class A logistics space in Europe during the past two years.
Early this year LCP announced two new developments projects in Italy, with a combined total footprint of over 160,000 m2 for online retailer Amazon. These included a 60,000 m2 robotised distribution centre near Turin and a 100,000 m2 fulfilment centre in Vercelli, two of the largest logistics buildings to be developed in the country.
LCP managing director James Markby explained that demand for new logistics buildings is stronger than ever in all European markets with extra space needed by e-commerce operators, traditional retailers reconfiguring logistics requirements and increased demand from traditional parcel and transport companies.
‘Only a small proportion of this demand can be covered by existing buildings, and the majority requires new development to satisfy the latest requirements in terms of scale, energy performance, height or automation.’
This article first appeared in EuroProperty, the weekly publication of PropertyEU.
