Garbe Industrial Real Estate and a fund managed by BlackRock have formed a joint venture to invest in a portfolio of sustainable logistics assets, primarily in Germany and France.
The JV will target new-build structures as well as standing properties in need of upgrades, the partners said.
The first two acquisitions to be signed are a 200,000 m2 brownfield site in Salzgitter, Germany, and a fully permitted plot of land near Rennes in France.
In Salzgitter, the JV will develop a logistics property with a total floor area of about 70,000 m2, to be completed in 2026.
On the French site, a 27,000 m2 BREEAM Excellent warehouse will be developed for delivery in autumn 2025.
Christopher Garbe, managing partner of Garbe, said the JV with BlackRock represents ‘a major milestone in the process of setting up and expanding our footprint in the domestic and international logistics real estate market.
‘Demand for floor space, especially for ESG-compliant facilities, is persistently high across Europe – so, this is where we intend to create an adequate supply. With our initial acquisitions in Salzgitter and Rennes, we are securing the first assets that exemplifies our investment strategy.’
Björn Rasche, head of BlackRock's real estate business in the DACH region and the Netherlands, said the partnership with Garbe ‘illustrates our approach to invest in thematically outstanding sectors with experienced partners’.
He added: ‘In the current cycle, we see particularly interesting entry opportunities in the logistics sector to provide a solution for the realignment of supply chains and the requirements of the energy transition with future-proof properties.’
