A European mid-market lending partnership between Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies (BREDS) and Pluto Finance has entered the German market with €93m of lending across two transactions.
The financing consists of a €57m facility secured against three Berlin last-mile logistics assets, sponsored by Valor Real Estate Partners and QuadReal Property, and a €36m facility secured against an urban, grocery-anchored convenience retail centre in Hamburg.
Matthew Phillips, partner at Valor Real Estate Partners, said: “These are exceptionally well-located assets within a core European last-mile submarket supported by sustained occupier demand and strong fundamentals.
“We were impressed by Pluto’s constructive and flexible underwriting and execution approach, and are grateful for their partnership. The transaction also extends our relationship with BREDS as we continue to scale our urban logistics platform across Europe.”
Thomas Blangy, SVP at QuadReal, said: “Berlin represents one of the most important last-mile logistics markets in Europe, and together with Valor we have built a compelling portfolio of high-quality assets in strong locations in and around the city. This financing is another important milestone in the delivery of our global investment strategy.”
Ciaran Singh, managing director, Europe at Pluto Finance, said: “We are very pleased to have completed our first German deployments through the Pluto Finance and BREDS partnership, with two loans secured against high-quality assets in Hamburg and Berlin. These transactions demonstrate the breadth of our European lending platform and our ability to originate and structure flexible financing solutions across multiple sectors.
“Germany is expected to become an increasingly key market for Pluto Finance as we continue to expand our continental European presence, and we see significant opportunities to support experienced sponsors and investors with institutional-grade private credit.
BREDS and Pluto Finance joined forces in September last year to launch the partnership to target European mid-market lending, with an initial goal to deploy £2bn (€2.3bn) within the next two years.
The partnership plans to provide whole loans of between £25m and £100m to real estate owners and developers in the UK and continental Europe, primarily focusing on the logistics and living real estate sectors.
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