The largest shareholder in abrdn European Logistics Income plc (ASLI) is calling for an immediate freeze on asset sales and an urgent board meeting to vote on a change of strategic direction.
In an open letter to ASLI’s board, Central European developer-investor DL Invest stated its intention to serve a formal requisition notice urging ASLI to convene the meeting “as soon as possible”, with the aim of “safeguarding ASLI’s long-term value, protecting shareholders from irreversible loss, and restoring the company to a growth trajectory”.
DL Invest, the owner of €1.1bn of assets in Central Europe, acquired an 18% stake in ASLI in early December and said at the time that it planned to turn the firm into “the first European REIT focused on logistics and data-centre assets”.
DL Invest’s open letter follows “protracted private engagement” with ASLI’s board over several weeks, including multiple meetings, which failed to stop ASLI’s planned asset sales.
“Our main expectation after initiating a constructive dialogue with the Management Board is to halt the sale of assets as part of the liquidation process until the shareholders’ meeting is held, as well as to revisit the decision on the managed wind-down,” DL Invest’s founder and CEO Dominik Leszczyński told IPE Real Assets. “The decision was taken nearly three years ago in a very unfavourable market environment—characterised by high interest rates, limited access to financing, and instability in the commercial real-estate segment.”
In Leszczyński’s view, ASLI — which currently owns seven fully let logistics assets in the Netherlands and France — should capitalise on its LSE-listed platform and high-quality existing portfolio to expand and benefit from the current inflection point in the economic cycle.
Leszczyński argues that the macroeconomic situation has changed dramatically, meaning, in his view, that ASLI should change its strategy.
He said: “We are observing gradual interest-rate cuts, a recovery in investor demand for core-plus assets, and rising interest in REIT-type platforms with exposure to long-term income. Carrying out a liquidation process in the current market conditions […] may lead to sales below their long-term market value, resulting in irreversible losses for shareholders.”
In a statement issued on Friday, ASLI held its position saying that the sale process is nearly complete and the company’s strategy remains unchanged.
“In July 2024 the shareholders of abrdn European Logistics Income voted overwhelmingly for the adoption of a Managed Wind-Down process, and this remains the company’s strategy. The process is nearing completion, with the remaining disposals expected to be finalised during Q1 2026,” an ASLI spokesperson said.
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