Hamburg-based investment and asset management firm Aquila Capital has raised €330 mln of equity at the first close of its Southern European Logistics fund.
Investors in the strategy are all institutions and include SCI Primonial Capimmo. Aquila initially planned to raise €250 mln at the first close but the volume was increased to €330 mln on the back of strong demand for the vehicle, which is planned to deploy the capital within the next 18 months.
The strategy focuses on newbuilt, stable income-generating sustainable and ESG compliant logistics properties in Southern European countries including Italy, Spain and Portugal. The open-ended fund has a target investment volume (GAV) of €1.5 bn with a maximum debt ratio (LTV) of 50%.
The fund will focus on modern and energy-efficient logistics properties which are built and operated by the highest standards of energy efficiency and environmental protection, and which create added value by combining sustainability, attractive rental conditions, and strategic locations. Selection criteria include proximity to transportation hubs to minimize carbon emissions related to transport and sustainable building standards which include BREEAM certification, the installation of rooftop photovoltaic panels and the offsetting of CO2 emissions.
The fund has made its first investment with the purchase of a 115,000 m2 logistic site in Azambuja, a strategic and core logistics hub in Lisbon’s metropolitan area. 70% of the asset has been pre-let to a blue-chip tenant with a lease term of 20 years firm.
Roman Rosslenbroich, CEO and co-founder of Aquila Capital, commented: ‘We see an increasing interest among institutional investors for sustainable real estate assets, including logistics centres. The Aquila Capital Southern European Logistics fund provides a response to this demand, focusing on Southern European markets where we see still a lot of opportunities due to the need for modern, large-scale storage space.’
Lars Meisinger, head International Client Advisory & Corporate Development at Aquila Capital, added: ‘In recent years, the overall return on logistics has outperformed all other real estate sectors and we expect this to continue. Persistent uncertainty around supply chain disruption is supporting demand for distribution centres thanks to their central role in e commerce. In a post-Covid world, we expect companies continue to seek more and more logistics space to adapt to rapidly evolving consumer trends and make their supply chains more resilient to deal with new disruptions.’
European prime rents for logistics properties are rising faster than they have been in over two decades. ‘This rental growth is mostly concentrated in strategic locations of the major metropolitan areas, while less central big box locations continue to lag behind, but even there we see rent increases gradually outperforming inflation as scarcity emerges,’ noted Rolf Zarnekow, head of Real Estate at Aquila Capital. ‘We expect this trend to continue, since take-up is likely to remain at a structurally higher level. While vacancy for excellently located, modern large-scale logistics facilities has been sustainably very low for many years, the overall vacancy rate has also fallen in an increasing number of locations and will therefore support further rental growth.’
Kempen & Co acts as the sole advisor for the capital raise.
