TIAA Henderson Real Estate has invested in AEW Europe’s €1bn Logistis fund on behalf of its Indirect Property Fund.
Without revealing the size of the investment, TH Real Estate said it had been looking for an investment in the European logistics sector to take advantage of changes resulting from the rise of e-commerce and globalisation.
The fund manager said there was a structural undersupply of assets capable of catering for the changes, and that it expected demand for “the right assets in the right locations” to increase as the trends continued.
The Indirect Property Fund holds a portfolio of listed and unlisted assets, primarily in western Europe.
Jason Rodrigues, fund manager at TH Real Estate, said: “The AEW Europe Logistis fund has an existing portfolio of high-quality assets, a strong track record and an experienced manager – all features that we look for in our investments.”
He said the allocation went well with the Indirect Property Fund’s current holdings and suited its strategy of focusing on core and core-plus, income-distributing funds with low gearing.
In March, AEW Europe announced it had raised an extra €85m in equity in the second closing of its LOGISTIS Fund, which had a portfolio of around €1bn. The second close took the fund’s total equity to €600m.
The large specialist logistics fund was formed two years ago from the merger of three of AEW Europe’s logistics funds.
In June, AEW Europe said it was targeting a maximum of €1.2bn of equity capital with the final close expected at the end of this year.
