AXA Investment Managers–Real Assets is paying around €1bn for a portfolio of assets sold by Gramercy Property Europe.
The investment manager will take the 39 logistics assets in five European countries.
AXA-IM said it is investing on behalf of AXA Insurance Companies and its CoRE Europe open-ended fund.
Laurent Jacquemin, European head of transactions at AXA IM-Real Assets, said the deal “substantially strengthens our foothold across target European markets which offer attractive opportunities”.
“The potential of the logistics market remains highly compelling as a result of the undersupply of prime stock in Europe coupled with demand for assets continuing to be bolstered by e-commerce, convenience shopping and evolving trends in the supply chain.”
The 1.2m sqm portfolio, mainly in Germany, France and The Netherlands, is fully-let to 27 tenants with an average lease length in excess of eight years.
The portfolio also includes some retail, car dealership and office assets.
The transaction adds to AXA IM’s existing €880m pan-European logistics portfolio.
AXA IM launched a standalone logistics and industrial development platform for Europe, Baytree Logistics Properties in 2015.
Gramercy Europe, which focuses on sale-and-leaseback and single-tenant transactions, last year took full control of a real estate portfolio it held in a joint venture with Goodman.
The investment manager’s Gramercy Property Europe fund took a 20% stake it did not already hold in the nine-asset portfolio.
Goodman held the stake in its Goodman Europe Development Trust.
