Harrison Street enters European self-storage via £150m UK joint venture

Real assets investment manager Harrison Street has entered the European self-storage market through a UK joint venture with Pacific Investments seeded with three assets.

The partnership which holds a 138,000sqft seed portfolio, intends to develop a £150m (€178m) portfolio over the next three to five years targeting undersupplied locations across the country.

Pacific Investments’ majority-owned self-storage property management platform, Engage Management Services, will operate the assets under the Here Self Storage brand.

The joint venture’s initial focus will be on the UK market, with Harrison Street aiming to expand into other European markets over time. Harrison Street already has experience in North American; the firm has invested around $3.7bn and developed over 322 self-storage assets across the US and Canada.

Paul Bashir, chief executive officer for Europe at Harrison Street, said: “We are thrilled to enter a new property sector in Europe and believe it’s the opportune time to expand Harrison Street’s self-storage platform into the UK, a market that has a promising outlook supported by resilient fundamentals and increasing liquidity.

“With an established track record across our US self-storage platform, we see a unique opportunity to apply our expertise and partner with Pacific Investments to deliver high-quality self-storage assets in the UK. We remain committed to identifying and investing in compelling opportunities across alternative sectors as we continue to expand our presence in Europe.”

Mark Johnson, executive chairman, Pacific Investments, said: “We are delighted to partner with Harrison Street on the next stage of growth for the Here Self Storage Platform which begun with our investment in Engage, who we believe can become a category leader in the self-storage sector.

“We believe that the joint venture will enable us to continue providing high-quality self-storage solutions to our customers across the UK.”

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