M&G buys Danish industrial portfolio through sale-and-leaseback deal

M&G Real Estate has entered into a €59.3m sale-and-leaseback deal with a Danish steel and technology wholesaler.

The transaction sees the fund manager acquire an industrial portfolio covering more than 75,000sqm of space at net yield 6.8%.

The tenant has entered into long-term leases on the assets in Køge, Odense and Kolding.

Thorsten Slytå, director of asset management at M&G Real Estate in Stockholm, said: “The Danish net initial yield requirements on prime logistics properties are higher compared to the net initial yields offered in the rest of Europe, making investments in this segment of the market very attractive.

“With a very strong logistics market with low new supply and low vacancies, we believe this may harbour potential for further yield compression.”

It is M&G Real Estate’s fourth acquisition in Denmark and its second Nordic acquisition this year, after a €230m investment in a central Stockholm office building in January.

Union Investment has also made the first logistics purchase for its Austrian-run Immofonds 1 fund, buying the FIEGE Mega Center project in Burgwedel, near Hanover for around €46m.

Union Investment said it is buying the asset from Westphalian family company FIEGE Logistics, which is also developing the property.

The acquisition is part of a forward funding agreement, it said, adding that the turnkey handover is planned for December 2017.

Kurt Rossmüller, managing director of Union Investment Real Estate Austria, said: “Following the integration of the former Immo KAG into the real estate area of Union Investment, we have strategically shifted focus to include logistics centres.”

The open-ended Immofonds 1 has to date only included office, retail, hospitality and medical-centre assets.

The FLIEGE project comprises 48,600sqm of leasable space, and the development is aiming for DGNB Platinum sustainability certification.