South African based REIT Redefine Properties and private equity investment company Griffin Capital Partners have set up a venture to acquire Stokado, Poland's second-largest self-storage operator, to establish a platform to fast-track investment through development activity within this growing sector.
Stokado has established itself as one of the leaders in the self-storage industry in Poland, storing goods belonging to private and B2B customers in around 3,000 units in its dedicated self-storage facilities located in Wroclaw, Poznan, Bydgoszcz, Szczecin, Kalisz, Legnica, Zabrze and Zielona Góra.
Redefine and Griffin have a history of working together in Poland on other projects and the newly-formed venture plans to further expand Stokado’s operations through developing a country-wide network of modern, purpose-built self-storage facilities.
Under the new partnership, Griffin Capital Partners will act as co-owner and asset manager of the platform, while the founders of Stokado will remain involved as the minority shareholders and management team of the company. Financial details were not disclosed.
Andrew Konig, the CEO of Redefine Properties, said: 'This deal leverages the strengths of all parties and opens the door to expansion, diversity and growth in line with Redefine’s focus on strategically allocating capital into areas with upside at low risk. The lack of institutional grade storage space in the expanding Polish market makes this a particularly attractive proposition. We are convinced that this sector in Poland has many years of stable growth ahead of it.'
Maciej Dyjas, managing partner, Griffin Capital Partners, added: 'We are actively diversifying Griffin’s portfolio with projects not only in commercial and residential real estate but also in renewable energy and now in a new industry for Poland, self-storage. Our strategy is to seek investment opportunities and growth potential in any sector that we find attractive. The self-storage market is performing strongly, and we see that investors' interest continues to grow. We are pleased to continue our partnership with Redefine Properties while developing a new market in Poland.'
Storage space has grown by 4.8% in Europe over the past 12 months. The Polish self-storage market is still in its infancy, with penetration 2.5 times lower than in Germany and 6.7 times lower than the European average. It is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of over 8% over the next three years.
Dawid Bechcicki, the co-founder of Stokado, commented: 'We are welcoming new investors in Stokado with a goal to develop 50 new self-storage buildings over the next 5 years, focusing on major cities throughout Poland and becoming the Polish market's largest operator.'
