AustralianSuper has acquired a 50% stake in Oxford Properties’ €840m European industrial and logistics portfolio and fund manager M7 Real Estate.
Through a new strategic partnership, the Australian superannuation fund and the real estate arm of Canadian pension fund OMERS will look to develop a €4.5bn warehouse portfolio over the next three to five years.
The A$355bn (€214bn) AustralianSuper has acquired half of the European Supply Chain Income Partnership (ESCIP) portfolio, which comprises 730,000sqm of urban logistics and distribution warehouses across 76 assets.
The properties – which are 90% occupied – are located in urban and distribution hubs in the UK, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.
M7, the investment and asset manager Oxford Properties acquired in 2021, will oversee sourcing and executing new opportunities for the strategy, which aims to generate income-led exposure across the pan-European supply chain.
AustralianSuper, Australia’s largest pension fund, has a €35bn global real assets portfolio, with over €6bn allocated to European investments.
Paul Clark, head of European real assets at AustralianSuper, said: “We believe urban logistics and distribution represents one the most compelling sector opportunities in European real estate today, and have been tracking the sector for several years to find the right portfolio that meets our ambitions, with strong fundamentals and significant growth potential.
“We are delighted to partner with the Oxford and M7 teams, investors with proven track records operating and growing high-quality logistics portfolios, to scale the ESCIP platform together using our collective expertise, generating long-term performance for members.”
Joanne McNamara, EVP and head of Europe at Oxford Properties, said: “We believe there are exciting prospects in this high conviction strategy, a major pillar of Oxford’s capital deployment ambitions in the region for 2025, with a compelling pipeline of investment opportunities which we expect to announce in short order.”
David Ebbrell, CEO of M7 Real Estate, said: “Not only is AustralianSuper’s investment into our business another huge endorsement of M7 Real Estate’s team, its expertise and long track record of creating value, the support of Australia’s largest superannuation fund also brings with it a commitment to invest significantly through our platform alongside Oxford Properties into the European industrial and logistics sector over the next few years, helping us achieve our own ambitions for growth.”
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