EQT Exeter has bought a €117.5m Italian logistics portfolio from KKR, Round Hill Capital and Longridge Capital.

KKR, Round Hill and Longridge said the fully-leased portfolio of nine assets was held through their investment in the Elizabeth real estate fund. The 131,000sqm Elizabeth portfolio was held in an Italian real estate fund managed by Namira.

The last mile logistics assets are located throughout Central and Northern Italy.

KKR, Round Hill and Longridge teamed in October 2018 to acquire logistics investments across select areas of Italy as part of the expansion of KKR’s southern European logistics platform. 

KKR’s investment was made through Real Estate Partners Europe, KKR’s first dedicated European real estate fund, which closed in June 2016 with $739m (€639m) in capital commitments. 

The companies said the Elizabeth portfolio is the second disposal by the co-investors following the sale of the Victoria Big Box logistics portfolio to Morgan Stanley in 2020 for €51m.

Seb d’Avanzo, managing director at KKR, said: “We are delighted with the conclusion to this investment which was part of our successful thematic strategy around Southern European logistics.

“The sector continues to be a strong investment focus for us across Europe as we continue to see very favourable tailwinds for logistics.”

Michael Bickford, founder and CEO of Round Hill Capital, said: “This sale is in line with our long term strategy of sourcing quality opportunities in local markets and optimising the value of underlying assets to drive returns.

”Yields in logistics continue to benefit from significant tailwinds driven by post-pandemic shifts in supply chains, and the sector remains a key focus area for Round Hill Capital and one in which we remain committed to expanding our presence across Europe.”

Gavin Geddes, managing director at Longridge Capital, said: “We have successfully aggregated, repositioned and fully let this portfolio and have exited ahead of business plan to a long term investor.”

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