Global investment giant Blackstone has bought CT Real Estate, which owns a portfolio of 10 logistics parks, for €470 mln from a venture between TPG Real Estate and Contera.
The 500,000 m2 portfolio consists of last-mile logistics properties in central Europe, with some 80% of the portfolio in the Czech Republic, and the remaining 20% in Slovakia.
James Seppala, head of European real estate at Blackstone, commented: ‘Logistics continues to benefit from robust occupier and investor demand growth, supported by e-commerce tailwinds. These high-quality assets are complementary to our existing pan-European portfolio, positioning us well to capture further growth.’
Logistics has been a sector darling for Blackstone, the largest owner of commercial real estate globally, ever since it launched Logicor in 2012. Over the past decade, the asset management giant has built up a massive portfolio across a number of platforms focused on different types of logistics distribution facilities.
In the past 12 months alone, prior to this deal, Blackstone bought over €4 bn of logistics real estate in Europe across 100 individual transactions.
Peter Krause, who has been responsible for Blackstone’s European logistics investments for the past eight years, told PropertyEU: ‘The momentum behind the e-commerce revolution that has underpinned the growth of logistics continues, including in Europe which currently lags behind the US in terms of online penetration.’
Michiel Celis, business unit partner at TPG Real Estate, said: ‘Through our experience investing in pan-European industrial over the last decade, we saw the opportunity to partner with Contera, a best-in-class manager, to build, grow and scale a premier network of logistics facilities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
‘We are proud of the growth we have achieved since forming our venture. Together, we have quadrupled the size of the portfolio, which today spans approximately 500,000sqm across 10 high-quality parks.’
