French listed property group Foncière des Régions has signed an agreement to sell nearly 60% of its logistics assets to real estate funds managed by US private equity giant Blackstone.
French listed property group Foncière des Régions has signed an agreement to sell nearly 60% of its logistics assets to real estate funds managed by US private equity giant Blackstone.
The portfolio involves 17 logistics platforms, representing a total surface area of nearly 750,000 m2, located in France and Germany. The price tag comes to €473 mln.
The assets will be integrated into Logicor, Blackstone’s European logistics platform. The transaction is due for completion in June 2014 and will be carried out in line with the last appraised values.
The deal is in line with FdR's strategy to divest non-core assets representing around 15% of its total portfolio. The Paris-listed group plans to sell roughly €1.8 bn of non-strategic real estate in the near future, according to head of investor relations Philippe Le Trung.
'Our core business is offices in France and in Italy, as well as residential in Germany and hotels in France. We believe these sectors are better positioned in a recovering market. On the other hand, we plan to sell our residential assets in France, representing around €450 mln of assets, as well as our entire logistics portfolio worth some €800 mln and the car parking units which will be sold on an individual basis,' Le Trung noted.
In total, the company aims to sell some €1.8 bn of assets in the next few years, and currently has two other logistics portfolios on the market, he added. FdR has divested over €2 bn of assets since announcing a strategic refocusing of the business in 2008.
FdR's plans to offload its French housing portfolio come at a time when the company is seeking to boost its presence in France. But, Le Trung noted, the French residential package largely consists of mature assets. 'Rents are not going to increase further and there is a good market to sell on a unit by unit basis,' he commented.
