One of Europe’s largest and most advanced automated logistics buildings is for sale, in Oslo in Norway.
Vendors Møller Eiendom and Stokke Industri have appointed Pangea Property Partners to sell the 86,000 m2 Coop logistics centre close to Oslo airport.
The price for 'Project Viking' has not been disclosed, but one agent said the transaction could amount to approximately €300 mln at 4%, making it the largest transaction of a single logistics property ever in Norway and probably the largest in the whole of the Nordics.
The food distribution centre is let to Coop, which has 30% of Norway’s grocery market share, on a 20-year triple net lease. The centre is being expanded to 86,000 m2 and when this completes it will have an estimated 2021 net operating income of NOK 120 mln.
The vendors developed the property in 2015 with Møller Eiendom owning 60% and Stokke Industri 40% in the partnership.
They said it has ‘repeatedly’ been called Europe’s most modern and advanced food distribution centre with the technical infrastructure designed by WITRON, the global logistics automation company. The facility is within two-hours of 45% of the population.
Thomas Sletten, chief investment officer at Møller Eiendom, said: ‘ We invested as partners in 2015, and we had a five-year perspective. We have developed the property in the period, and now the time has come to sell. This is an ordinary step for us as a developer, and in our portfolio balancing.’
Bård Bjølgerud, CEO and Partner at Pangea Property Partners, added: ‘At times with more uncertainty, quality is usually valued even more highly. For that reason, the Nordic countries are perceived as a particularly interesting region.’
However, potential crossborder buyers will have to factor in the hedging costs with their bids, a source pointed out.
One of the highest lot-size single logistics transaction in Europe last year was Amazon’s 191,000 m2 building in Seville, Spain, for which Vestas Investment Management and M&G Real Estate paid circa €200 mln.
