Clearbell Capital’s Property Partners II fund has sold four assets from its industrial and mixed-use Amber portfolio for £45 mln (€50 mln) to real estate funds managed by Blackstone.
The assets will be incorporated into Mileway, Blackstone’s pan-European last mile logistics platform.
The Amber portfolio comprises four industrial and logistics assets located throughout the UK: Dumers Lane in Bury, Sheffield Business Park in Sheffield, Vantage Point in Bedford and Kinning Park in Glasgow.
The sale follows a similar deal in March 2020, in which another fund managed by Clearbell Capital sold its industrial and logistics Cara portfolio to Blackstone for £120 mln.
The Amber portfolio was acquired in August 2015 to take advantage of the opportunities for growth in industrial and mixed-use assets. Since then, Clearbell has undertaken a programme of asset management, including letting vacant space and regearing existing leases. Prominent tenants across the portfolio include modular housing company Vision Modular in Bedford, and Sambro International toy distributor.
Adam James, asset management director at Clearbell Capital, said: ‘There continues to be sustained demand for well-located industrial space across the UK, particularly given the boom in online retail led demand for warehousing resulting in record levels of take up in 2020. We expect that industrial assets yields will remain robust due to the supply and demand dynamics.’
Following the sale, the Amber portfolio has four assets remaining.
Separately, Clearbell on behalf of its Property Partners III fund has joined forces with Barwood Regional Property Growth Fund IV to acquire 440,000 sq ft (40,880 m2) of logistics space in Ellesmere Port, UK.
The Clearbell majority-owned JV acquired the asset from Värde Partners, an alternative investment firm.
The site is currently fully let to Jaguar Land Rover until June 2022 and is used by the company as a storage facility for their Halewood production centre.
Joseph Bridger, investment director at Clearbell Capital, said: ‘The medium-term impact of Brexit and the Pandemic will continue to drive strong demand for the sector. Large logistics assets of this size and scale are rare. On expiry of the lease, the asset will offer immediate and quality space to a supply starved market.’
