Crossbay has agreed a €400m debt facility with investment bank Citi to help fund the newly-created European logistics platform’s expansion.

Crossbay was launched in May last year by MARK, formerly known as Meyer Bergman, to target single-tenant distribution centres. Last month, the platform raised €550m of equity from investors represented by The Townsend Group, CBRE Global Investment Partners, Nuveen, Credit Suisse Asset Management and QInvest to help fund its expansion.

Marcus Meijer, CEO of MARK, said: “The debt facility announced today combined with the recent capital raise will allow us to continue to grow and expand Crossbay.

“To have negotiated debt financing for a pan-European portfolio during the major upheaval caused by Covid-19 is a testament to the hard work of our teams and also the strength of the Crossbay platform.

“The growth of last-mile logistics is underpinned by technologically-driven structural shifts that pre-date the pandemic and we continue to see opportunities for growth not only in this specific sector but logistics real estate more widely.”

Rob Hughes, director at Citi, said: “Crossbay represented a unique opportunity to finance a genuinely pan-European last-mile logistics portfolio of scale comprising high-quality assets in core markets.

“Logistics real estate, and urban logistics in particular, is underpinned by solid market fundamentals and long-term growth drivers that make it highly attractive as an asset class.

“We have an active and established presence in logistics real estate, having helped finance a number of large portfolio acquisitions by major investors and are pleased to be supporting Crossbay’s continued growth.”

Marco Riva, head of Crossbay and logistics at MARK, said: “We believe Covid-19 has fundamentally altered the habits of European consumers and introduced new demographics to online shopping. As a result, even once the pandemic is behind us and footfall in urban retail locations starts to recover, we still expect sustained demand from investors and occupiers for high-quality last-mile logistics facilities, such as what Crossbay is targeting.

“We aim to maintain the rapid pace of acquisitions that we have managed to date, which has been made possible by our strong network of on-the-ground teams that boast deep local market knowledge.”

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