Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) has agreed to forward fund a new, 2.94 million sq ft global parts logistics centre at Mercia Park located in North-West Leicestershire, UK, constructed by IM Properties and leased to Jaguar Land Rover.
The transaction represents Europe’s largest-ever, single-occupier build-to-suit transaction with ICG partnering with developer IM Properties to deliver the scheme on 20-year leases for each of the five units.
The new campus will service 80 countries and be in the heart of the UK’s Golden Triangle and Jaguar Land Rover’s aftermarket business.
Chris Nichols, head of Sale and Leaseback at ICG said, ‘This is a landmark deal by ICG, and the biggest single-occupier logistics build-to-suit ever undertaken in the Europe. Successfully completing this transaction reflects our ability to source truly mission critical real estate in very competitive spheres.’
The fund is actively seeking new mission critical real estate investment opportunities across Europe. Nichols: ‘We anticipate making additional investments by the end of Q1 2021 by which time we expect to have acquired circa €1 bn of mission critical investments in the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Northern Europe.’
The units will be completed on a phased basis with the last unit due to complete in September 2022.
ICG launched its sale and leaseback strategy in 2019 as it believes that more and more companies will utilise their real estate for balance sheet optimisation purposes. ‘ICG believes that the current economic climate and the need for corporate liquidity will drive significant short-term market growth for sale and leaseback as an alternate form of finance,’ the company said.
