AXA Investment Managers - Real Assets (AXA IMRA) has acquired a portfolio of 39 predominantly logistics assets in five European countries from Gramercy Property Europe for about €1 bn.
The transaction was made on behalf of a consortium of clients, namely AXA Insurance Companies and AXA CoRE Europe, a pan-European open ended real estate fund. AXA IMRA is the real estate portfolio and asset manager of Paris-based insurer AXA.
'This significant transaction illustrates AXA IM - Real Assets' commitment to the logistics sector and substantially strengthens our foothold across target European markets which offer attractive opportunities in this space,' commented Laurent Jacquemin, European head of transactions at AXA IMRA. 'The potential of the logistics market remains highly compelling as a result of the undersupply of prime stock in Europe, coupled with demand for assets continuing to be bolstered by e-commerce, convenience shopping and evolving trends in the supply chain.'
According to AXA IMRA, the 1.2 million m2 portfolio is fully let to 27 tenants with an average lease length in excess of eight years. Predominantly concentrated in Germany, the Netherlands and France, with a 10% holding in the UK and Poland, all assets within the portfolio benefit from prime locations along major national and international transportation hubs.
The portfolio spans four asset classes, with logistics comprising 86.5% of the total, while the balance of the portfolio is spread across retail, car dealership and office assets. Almost half of the high-specification logistics properties are over 50,000 m2 in size.
'We look forward to fully integrating this portfolio into our wider logistics platform and aim to generate long-term, stable income flows for our clients,' added Jacquemin.
The transaction more than doubles AXA IMRA's existing pan-European logistics portfolio which was valued at over €880 mln across some 1.4 million m2 of assets as of end of December 2016.
