Investment manager Nuveen Real Estate announced on Wednesday that it has acquired a high-quality self-storage portfolio in the UK, from Easistore, on behalf of its European Value Add strategy.
Nuveen will partner with one of the UK’s largest operators, Storage King, to leverage their operational expertise. The vendor was advised by Levy Real Estate. Financial details were not disclosed.
The portfolio, which comprises four assets totalling 240,000 sq ft (22,300 m2), consists of predominantly modern, bespoke, purpose-built properties, which are located across the south-east of England including Crawley, Edenbridge, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells.
The partnership with Storage King has seen the parties enter into a joint venture, with Storage King taking a minority stake in the JV and contributing 10% of the equity capital. The portfolio will be branded and managed by Storage King under its third-party management platform – Management 1st.
Storage King forms part of Stor-Age, a specialised property fund focused on the self storage sector which develops, acquires and manages high profile self-storage properties. Stor-Age owns a portfolio of 86 properties across the UK and South Africa.
Nuveen will undertake a number of initiatives to enhance the portfolio, including extensions at Crawley and Maidstone, a reconfiguration opportunity at Edenbridge, as well as increasing occupancy and rental levels across the portfolio.
In February, Nuveen announced the first and second closing of its pan-European diversified Value Add strategy, providing the venture with €450 mln of dry powder. This is the first acquisition in line with the strategy’s approach of targeting value-add opportunities across Europe and the UK initially focusing on urban logistics, housing and alternatives. It builds on Nuveen’s track record in Europe, following the acquisition of both 24Storage and Green Storage in 2021, which enabled Nuveen to create a major self-storage platform in Sweden.
David Pearce, fund manager, Real Estate, Europe at Nuveen, said: 'Over the last few months we have worked closely with our joint-venture partner, Stor-Age, to enter the UK self-storage market and this acquisition provides an excellent seed portfolio.'
