Brookfield and Copley recapitalise UK logistics portfolio sold by Tritax

Tritax Big Box REIT has sold three UK logistics warehouses to Brookfield and Copley Point Capital for £125m (€142m).

Brookfield is investing through its real estate secondaries business alongside industrial real estate manager Copley Point to recapitalise the fully-leased, 1.4m sqft portfolio located across the East Midlands and North West markets.

UK-listed Tritax will retain a small minority interest and Copley Point, which already has a partnership with Brookfield, will manage the portfolio.

Colin Godfrey, the CEO of Tritax Big Box is part of the company’s strategy to seek ways to optimise its portfolio to “crystalise value and redeploy capital into higher returning opportunities”.

Tritax said the assets located in Skelmersdale, Knowsley and Worksop were non-core to the investment strategy of the company.

Guillaume Savoie-Coulonval, managing director at Copley Point, said: “With the completion of this transaction, we are acquiring a portfolio of grade-A properties in strong locations with attractive asset management opportunities. We are excited to start working on those opportunities with the Brookfield team.

“We’re also happy to conclude another transaction with Tritax, which allows it to recycle capital in line with its business plan.”

Alexis Prevot, managing director at Brookfield’s real estate solutions business, said the recapitalisation represented the fourth investment through Brookfield’s real estate solutions strategy in Europe in the past 12 months and “we continue to see a range of interesting opportunities”.

He said: “We look forward to working together to bring our combined logistics expertise to add value to these assets, including the implementation of operational improvements.”

Brookfield’s previous partnership with Copley Point included a £180m recapitalisatin of 10 UK logistics assets previously owned by Copley Point and Davidson Kempner Capital Management funds’ Block Industrial partnership.

Brookfield set up its debut real estate secondaries fund in 2021. Chris Reilly, head of real estate secondaries at Brookfield Asset Management, recently told IPE Real Assets: “After approximately nine to 12 months of reviewing deals and not liking the pricing, we have started putting money back to work.”

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