KKR’s European industrial and logistics real estate platform has received a loan from the Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund and Merseyside Pension Fund to finance the development of a property in the North West of England.
KKR’s Mirastar is acquiring the 550,000sqft XDock logistics building in Widnes, a transaction that represents the fourth development deal with developer Marshall CDP.
The development, which has been acquired through a forward-funding structure by the value-add fund KKR Real Estate Partners Europe II, will be financed by a loan made by CBRE Lending on behalf of Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund and Merseyside Pension Fund.
Kris Britland, development director for Northern Europe at Mirastar, said: “This transaction marks the fourth deal with Marshall CDP, demonstrating the strong relationship that Mirastar and KKR have built with the developer. We look forward to building this grade-A scheme with Marshall CDP and delivering another high-quality development to the market.”
Ekaterina Avdonina, CEO and co-founder at Mirastar, said: “KKR and Mirastar remain acquisitive for best-in-class developments and funding projects across our key high-conviction markets. In this challenging environment, it is a testament to the team to be able to get such a large deal over the line.
“We remain committed to the UK logistics and industrial sector and are excited to partner with the team at Marshall CDP on this project.”
Seb d’Avanzo, managing director and head of real estate acquisitions for Europe at KKR, said: “We are pleased to complete this acquisition, which forms part of our strategy to develop state-of-the-art logistics assets in markets with compelling supply-demand dynamics.
“We will continue to provide capital solutions and leverage our relationships to unlock value in an environment where capital availability is disconnected from attractive fundamentals.”
Peter Wallach, director of pensions at Merseyside Pension Fund, said: “We are pleased to be working with our Northern LGPS pool partners in supporting the regeneration and levelling up of this key development zone in the North West with energy efficiency and sustainability at the forefront of the scheme design.”
Andrew Antoniades, head of lending at CBRE Lending, said: “We’re pleased to have made this loan from two of our key lending programmes. It is our first loan under our new role investing for the Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund and builds on our track record for lending to strategically important developments for the Merseyside Pension Fund’s Catalyst Fund.”
Simon Marshall, CEO at CDP, said: “Following our previous successful partnerships with Mirastar-KKR at Widnes Gorsey Point and Speke, CDP are now pleased to have agreed a deal to deliver the flagship logistics development of XDock at our strategic HBC Fields site in Widnes.”
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