Triuva and Garbe secure backing from insurer for European logistics fund

German fund manager Triuva and logistics specialist Garbe have won backing from an insurance company for their latest pan-European real estate fund.

The Triuva Garbe Logistik Europa Fund, which has capital raising target of €300m, has been given €100m by a German insurer.

The fund, structured as a German institutional Spezialfonds, will invest across German, French, Benelux and Spanish markets.

It is the successor to the IVG Garbe Logistik fund, which is now fully invested with assets of approximately €300m.

Triuva, formerly the institutional business of IVG, and Garbe, a Hamburg-based operator of logistics facilities, will focus on core and core-plus assets with the potential to make selective value-add investments to generate rental growth, the partners said.

They have already made the fund’s first investment, buying the XXL Distribution Centre in the Dutch city of Ede.

The 40,000 sqm asset is located in the Frankeneng Business Park, between Arnhem and Utrecht, with access to the A12 and A30 motorways.

It was bought through a sale-and-leaseback deal with the main tenant De Ijsgvogel Groep.

Wenzel Hoberg, chief executive of Truiva, said the fund was suited to insurers because it did not use leverage but still offered “solid returns due to the attractive yield spread of the logistics sector over the other main real estate asset classes”.

He said: “Initial yields on logistics properties in Western Europe are roughly 150bps higher on average than those on offices and about 220bps above retail space.”

Christopher Garbe, chief executive of Garbe, said: “Strong market forces, including the expansion of e-commerce and contract logistics, are driving the high demand for space in the sector.

“On the supply side, it is also extremely difficult to find suitable new development sites for logistics centres, so we continue to see a superb market outlook for logistics properties as an investment asset class.”