European real estate investment manager Europa Capital has completed the sale of a Dutch and German portfolio of urban logistics and warehouse assets to Strategic Industrial Real Estate (SIRE), Arrow Capital Partners’ platform backed by Cerberus.
The purchase price was €270 mln.
Sold by Europa’s European funds, Europa Fund V and Europa Fund VI, the 38 asset portfolio is concentrated in key logistics and urban markets along major transport corridors in The Netherlands and Germany. In total, it provides 360,000 m2 of accommodation and is let to a diverse range of e-commerce and 3PL occupiers including Lekkerland, Deutsche Post Immobilien (DHL), Dutch Organic International Trade B.V., Fahrrad XXL Feld GmbH, CWS boco Deutschland GmbH.
The assets, which have been amassed since August 2018 were originally acquired by Europa Capital on a transaction by transaction basis on behalf of three different value add investment strategies (First Business Parks, Dutch Urban Light Industrial Platform and German Logistics Partnership) covering urban logistics in Germany, urban logistics in The Netherlands and warehousing in Germany, respectively. The strategies were based on the premise of improving the occupancy and rental profile by letting vacant space and restructuring or extending leases. The occupancy across the portfolio has grown to 91%.
The assets are well located, complement SIRE’s existing portfolio and have significant potential for reversion and capital appreciation, with most of the value in larger institutional quality properties, the buyer said.
James Pennington, managing director at Europa Capital, commented: ‘This landmark sale represents one of the largest ever for Europa Capital and is the culmination of three successful investment strategies and multiple asset purchases. It also demonstrates our track record of identifying and aggregating good quality assets in structurally supported sectors before crystallising strong returns on behalf of our investors through disposal.’
Robert Howe, head of Real Estate, Europe, at Arrow, said: ‘This is a balanced portfolio of high quality logistics assets in prime locations which consolidates our growing position in two of SIRE’s priority markets. This acquisition continues our investment in assets where we can add value and which are benefiting from a scarcity of supply and growing occupational demand. We have acquired over €1 bn in our SIRE strategy over the last 12 months in multiple markets in Europe and are looking to deploy a further €2bn over the next two years, including assets with income, opportunity to refurbish and ground up development.’
Europa Capital was advised by Dentons, EMCV Management Consulting and Eastdil Secured on the transaction. Arrow Capital Partners was advised by CBRE and Freshfields.
