Valor Industrial Partners 2 (VIP2) has bought a portfolio of nine UK assets and has also completed a £21m (€23.8m) refinancing of three assets.
VIP2 - the second value-add industrial fund created by Valor Real Estate Partners and the real estate arm of insurer AIG - acquired the 500,000sqft assets in and around Greater Manchester and a further asset in Beckton, East London for an undisclosed sum.
Valor said it also completed a £21m refinancing of three assets in Beckton, Crawley and Ashford by extending its existing Deutsche Pfandbriefbank debt facility, established in October 2017.
Christian Jamison, a managing partner of Valor, said: “I am delighted to announce further acquisitions in the UK. Both are great examples of the attractive deals we are seeing in the market.
“In addition, the successful refinancing of three of our assets provides us with further flexibility to capitalise on the exciting pipeline of deals we are seeing both in the UK and European logistics markets and to continue expanding our portfolio.”
Cane Napolitano, a principal at Valor, said: “The Manchester portfolio provides exposure to an industrial market characterised by strong occupier demand across both the primary and secondary segments, strong historic rental growth driven by population expansion, and good connectivity between the inland regions, air cargo and seaports.
“Beckton is a fantastic opportunity to acquire an asset in a true infill, last mile distribution location. The area has historically enjoyed high rental growth, which is expected to continue as a result of declining volumes of existing industrial stock and increasing demand, particularly from occupiers being squeezed out of submarkets within the M25.”
In May, Valor extended its partnership with AIG Global Real Estate to launch VIP2. VIP2 will have more than £300m (€343.3m) of purchasing power including leverage.
Valor said the latest fund will continue to pursue a value-add strategy similar to its predecessor, VIP1, investing in and selectively developing logistics and industrial real estate in the UK and Continental Europe.
