CBRE GI acquires 426,000m2 of logistics across Poland and Germany

The Hillwood portfolio consists of four standing logistics parks, totalling 220,608m2, in Poland. CBRE GI has also agreed to acquire a pipeline of projects currently under development from Hillwood. These consist of two new parks and two extensions in Poland totaling 134,165 m2 and two new developments in Germany totaling 71,684 m2.

The total portfolio, including existing assets and developments, comes to almost 426,500 m2. The investment volume was not disclosed. 

Commenting on the deal, John Mulqueen, head of transactions EMEA at CBRE Global Investors, said, 'We have over €1 bn of capital to invest in CEE and Germany over the next 12 months. We are very pleased to be working with Hillwood to access top quality assets in a meaningful scale for the benefit of our investors.'

Grzegorz Ryszka, head of CEE transactions at CBRE Global Investors added: 'This portfolio is of top institutional quality and we have been lucky enough to cherry pick each core asset from an entirely open book from Hillwood.

'Some of the assets are state of the art, some offer a diversified lease expiry profile, some are in the development stage but what they all have in common is that they sit within Germany and Poland’s key logistics hotspots and Europe’s most important logistics corridor.'

Hillwood is a Dallas-based real estate investment and development company owned by Ross Perot Junior. He is the eldest son of billionaire Ross Perot who ran in the US presidential elections in 1992 and 1996. 

Hillwood announced in October 2014 that it had formed a joint venture with sovereign wealth funds to enter the European logistics real estate market. The JV company, Hillwood Europe, aimed to make direct and indirect investments in logistics real estate across major markets in Central and Western Europe through acquisitions, developments and joint ventures with other developers.

Hillwood chairman Ross Perot Jr said at the time: 'Unlike most investors recently interested in Europe, this is a long-term commitment based on building our business through acquisitions and development. We are comfortable doing this one building at a time.'

The assets included in the sale to CBRE GI are: 

POLAND 

 - 7R Logistic Centre Gdansk – a modern multi-let industrial and logistics park comprising six buildings, who if which are under construction, with 122,564 m2 of lettable space. It is located in the ‘Tri-City’ metropolitan area.

- Hillwood Bielsko-Biala – a 41,540 m2 multi-let industrial and logistics asset, comprising two buildings and six tenants. The fully let property is located directly adjacent to a motorway connecting Poland with Czech Republic and Slovakia.

- Ozarow I (pictured) – a 12,460 m2 modern warehouse let to five tenants and located approximately 15 kilometres west from the city centre of Warsaw.

- Hillwood Wroclaw – located close to the fourth largest city in Poland, Wroclaw is a modern logistics park, comprising two buildings totally 90,045 m2. The park will be extended by one further building totalling 27,000 m2.

- Ozarow II – a multi-let industrial asset with a rentable area of 29,713 m2. Located 15 km from Warsaw, the park is in the final stage of construction and letting process and the acquisition is planned within next few months.

- Warsaw Park – an inner-city facility in close vicinity to the city centre of Warsaw. The industrial park comprises 23,815 m2 of lettable area with a planned extension of a further 7,600 m2. Completion is expected immediately after the extension is finished.

GERMANY

- Hillwood Weiterstadt – a new development that will only be acquired by CBRE GI once fully let. It is located in the Frankfurt am Main metropolitan area and once completed will comprise 37,282 m2.

- Hillwood Dusseldorf – a 34,402 m2 new development that will complete in 2017 and will only be acquired once fully let. This asset is a distribution centre, located within 4 km of Dusseldorf city centre.