HighBrook Investors, the private equity real estate firm, has been busy assembling a high-quality portfolio of industrial and last-mile logistics properties in the Netherlands for a new platform.
Up until now, the company has not disclosed the strategy publicly. But for the first time, PropertyEU can reveal that the firm has created a new urban logistics platform, CityLink, which so far has acquired a portfolio of 33 industrial and last-mile assets in 16 separate transactions that were all finalised in the last quarter of 2020.
That is just the beginning as HighBrook, together with Dutch asset manager and partner Proptimize, plan to significantly grow the CityLink portfolio this year with additional acquisitions across the Dutch market.
The seed portfolio of 33 properties totals approximately 200,000 m2 located in urban infill locations within the Randstad area – the megapolis in central-western Netherlands comprising primarily the four largest cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht and their surrounding areas.
Over 70% of the total portfolio is concentrated on Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
In addition to local partner Proptimize, HighBrook has been working with various companies to further the strategy, those being Citystone Group, Bert Angel Consult and Wallstone Capital.
Loyens & Loeff, Savills Building Consultancy and Hofstede have advised on due diligence. The portfolio and financial management of CityLink is being carried out by Everglow Real Estate Management and technical property management by Square Four.
Low profile
HighBrook remains a low-profile firm in European real estate, but it is known by local partners in the cities where it is active, which include Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, and London.
It pursues a value-add style strategy in both the US, where the company started, as well as in Western Europe where it began investing in around 2016.
The group manages a series of commingled, closed-end funds from offices in New York and London.
