Aberdeen Standard European Logistics Income has announced plans to raise around £75 mln (€87 mln) through the issue of new shares as part of plans to invest further in the European logistics sector.
The share offer will be carried out at a price of 109 pence per share, representing a discount of 8.4% to the closing price of 119 pence as at 7 September 2021; and a premium of 2.7% to the company’s 30 June 2021 unaudited Net Asset Value per share of 106.1 pence.
The operation comes as the company's Investment Manager, Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI), is currently performing due diligence on a pipeline of mid-box and urban logistics warehouses with a value over €165 mln.
'At IPO in December 2017, the company’s investment proposition was centred on the premise that e-commerce penetration in Europe was significantly behind the UK, and that the inevitable growth to follow would lead to strong returns for investors with exposure to high quality European logistics real estate,' said company chairman Tony Roper.
He added: 'While this investment thesis was already playing out as forecast prior to 2020, Covid-19 has accelerated the trend and we have been ideally positioned to capture this growth. With e-commerce penetration in Europe continuing to lag the UK and with industry estimates of c. 300 million sq ft of additional logistics space required to meet rising demand over the next five years, we remain steadfast in our conviction in the sector’s future growth prospects.'
To date the firm has built a diversified portfolio of 16 modern, high quality logistics warehouses, diversified across five countries and 44 tenants, valued at €492.7 mln.
