US private equity firm Blackstone has acquired 264,000 m2 of light industrial multi-let properties in the Netherlands from HIG Capital for €130 mln, a day after announcing a €1.3 bn buy of similar assets in the Netherlands and Germany from UK REIT Hansteen.
While HIG Capital declined to comment on the financial details, Bloomberg on Monday cited confidential sources as saying Blackstone intended to acquire the firm's Mbay joint venture light-industrial portfolio in the Netherlands for €130 mln. PropertyEU has confirmed via the Dutch Land Registry database that the price was €130.5 mln.
The 26-asset MBay porfolio was owned by a joint venture of HIG Capital and M7 Real Estate.
M7, a London-based asset manager, is Blackstone's partner in the Onyx venture which acquired the Hansteen assets in Germany and the Netherlands. The Dutch portfolio consists of 71 assets, valued at €308 mln. That sale also covered 100 German assets, valued at €887 mln. M7 is the operating partner for the Onyx venture.
HIG portfolio
HIG is a global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with more than €20 bn of equity capital under management. The firm purchased its Dutch portfolio in three tranches in 2013 and 2014, which consisted primarily of high-yielding multi-let industrial assets in the Netherlands.
Riccardo Dallolio (pictured), managing director at HIG Realty Partners in London, commented: 'This transaction is a great example of HIG's value-added approach and has resulted in another exit with an excellent outcome for HIG and its investors.'
Sanjoy Chattopadhyay, principal at HIG Realty Partners in London added: 'HIG. purchased undermanaged assets, and through a series of targeted asset management initiatives and an aggregation strategy, we have built a high-quality portfolio with critical mass, which was successfully sold to a strategic buyer.'
