Safestore and The Carlyle Group’s joint venture has moved into the Belgian self-storage market with the acquisition of a six-store portfolio.
The joint venture, established in August 2019, has bought the self-storage units from Lokabox for an undisclosed sum, the companies said in a joint statement.
Lokabox has six Belgian stores located in Brussels (2), Liege (2), Charleroi and Nivelles totalling 20,600sqm of lettable space.
The duo said the venture intends to continue to expand its platform by investing in further development and acquisition opportunities in self-storage across Europe.
The Carlyle Group has an 80% shareholding in the joint venture through Carlyle Europe Realty, a €540m pan-European real estate fund, with FTSE 250-listed Safestore holding the balance.
Marc-Antoine Bouyer, MD on the Carlyle Europe Realty advisory team, said: “This second acquisition for the joint venture builds on the pan-European investing experience of the Carlyle team, along with the specialist industry knowledge of the Safestore team.
“We are pleased to have a recognised industry leader as our partner as we enter the Belgian market and develop a robust platform to identify further opportunities in the self-storage market.”
Frederic Vecchioli, CEO of Safestore said since 2016, Safestore has invested or committed close to £237m to 45 stores, acquisitions and new developments in its core markets.
“The acquisition of Lokabox represents an excellent platform for entry into the attractive Belgian self-storage market and a logical next step in our growing joint venture with Carlyle Europe Realty.”
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