Aberdeen's new UK-listed logistics investment trust has announced the acquisition of its first asset after raising £187.5 mln (€212 mln) in an Initial Public Offering on the London stock exchange last month.
Aberdeen Standard European Logistics Income has exchanged contracts to acquire Flörsheim logistics park in Frankfurt for a net value of €20.1 mln from Segro Zehnte Grundbesitz.
The acquisition will be funded from existing cash, with the deal closing expected towards the end of January 2018.
The company, which invests in European logistic properties such as large ‘big box’ ultra-modern warehouses and local ‘last mile’ distribution centres, said that the purchase 'fits well with the investment strategy given the modern and flexible specifications of the building and the central location in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main area'.
The asset provides 17,809 m2 of space comprising two high quality logistics warehouses newly constructed in 2015 on freehold ground. Flörsheim is fully let to five logistic tenants and benefits from almost full annual rent indexation (CPI) and a weighted average unexpired lease term (WAULT) of 5.5 years.
Evert Castelein, the Company’s fund manager, commented: 'With the support from our local Frankfurt based asset management team we are confident that we can generate a durable income stream from this asset and remain confident about the pipeline of further investment opportunities.'
The company targets a distribution yield of 5.5% per annum, predominantly in the form of dividends, and a total return for investors of 7.5% per annum (both in Euro terms).
Aberdeen Fund Managers is acting as the company's fund manager.
