US real estate giant Clarion Partners has entered the European market with the purchase of a majority stake in logistics and industrial specialist Gramercy Europe.
Under the terms of the tie-up, Gramercy Europe will rename as Clarion Gramercy, with CEO Alistair Calvert continuing to lead the business and the company keeping its offices in London, Berlin and Barcelona. The value of Clarion Partners’ investment has not been disclosed.
The announcement comes only months after Gramercy Europe's management team bought out the firm from another US owner, Gramercy Property Trust (GPT), which Blackstone purchased in May 2018.
Welcoming the acquisition by Clarion Partners, Calvert said: ‘The Gramercy Europe management team has been able to consistently extract upside on behalf of its investors through identifying, acquiring, managing and disposing of institutional quality properties in key logistics locations throughout Western Europe.
‘We plan to continue capitalizing on the expansion of the undersupplied European logistics property market and leveraging the deep relationships that we have built with some of Europe’s leading businesses. We expect ongoing demand from a range of occupiers that span Europe and US, fueled by the growth in ecommerce and expanded trade. We are excited by the synergies created by joining the Clarion Partners investment management platform, and we look forward to enhancing our global investment management business.'
Clarion Partners is one of the leading US real estate investment management business with $50 bn (€44.3 bn) of assets under management.
David Gilbert, Clarion Partners’ CEO, commented: 'We are very excited to broaden the investment reach of Clarion Partners into the European markets. Clarion Gramercy and its seasoned team are a natural extension of Clarion’s leadership position in the US, managing a $16 billion, 700-property portfolio of logistics assets. We are pleased to be in position to expand our product offerings to investors and to satisfy existing tenants that have needs beyond the Americas.'
