Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is buying 50% of a UK logistics property for £27.1m (€31.4m) from Prologis, as part of its continued joint venture with the logistics firm.

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the NOK11trn (€1.1trn) Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), said Prologis would continue to own the other 50% of the property - located in Daventry in Northamptonshire - and perform asset management on it on behalf of the joint venture.

NBIM said the property, which comprised 40,423sqm of leasable space, was unencumbered by debt, and no financing was involved in the transaction.

The logistics property NBIM has bought a stake in is part of the Prologis Apex Park, situated just north of Daventry town centre, close to the M1/M45 junction, a spokeswoman for NBIM confirmed.

The joint venture between NBIM and Prologis already owns three other assets in the Apex Park, she said.

In its 2020 annual report, NBIM said that alongside the effects of the pandemic on real estate investments, existing market trends had accelerated last year. Trading in physical shops had increasingly been replaced with shopping online - a phenomenon which it said had been positive for the logistics sector.

Last year, the GPFG made a 9.2% return on unlisted logistics assets.

NBIM and Prologis formed their first deal back in 2012, when the asset manager bought a 50% share in a pan-European logistics portfolio owned by the logistics firm.

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