Round Hill Capital, the London-based European real estate asset manager, has entered the Nordics for the first time with the acquisition of a logistics and industrial portfolio for almost €180 mln.
The transaction also marked the debut for the real estate arm of StepStone Group, which partnered with Round Hill on the acquisition. StepStone is a global private markets specialist overseeing over $91 bn (€82 bn) of private capital allocations, including approximately $24 bn of assets under management.
The acquired portfolio comprises six aggregated portfolios holding 18 assets spanning 326,000 m2 across Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The portfolio was sold by a group of companies of NLI Eiendomsinvest, a real estate investment company based in Oslo.
Colliers International in Norway provided full advisory services to Round Hill, including introducing NLI Eiendomsinvest to Round Hill in an off-market transaction. Colliers in Sweden and the UK also co-assisted on the deal.
DLA Piper was Round Hill's legal adviser for the transaction. NLI Eiendomsinvest was advised by Nordic corporate finance and transaction advisory firm, Pangea Property Partners.
Round Hill indicated this was not going to be a one-off foray into the Nordic markets. 'Round Hill has been evaluating the Nordic markets for several years and is pleased to have acquired the NLI Eiendomsinvest portfolio, which provides stable rental income and positive risk-adjusted returns consistent with our overall investment strategy,' said Michael Bickford, founder and CEO of Round Hill.
'We will use our firm experience and expertise to build a local management team and continue to look in the market for other portfolios and assets with similar value characteristics. We believe the Nordic region benefits from positive macro-economic trends, attractive yields for commercial, industrial and logistics properties and strong rental growth,' he added.
Per Morten Kiil, CEO of NLI Eiendomsinvest, said that the sale marked the final disposal by the fund and that it was in line with its strategy of a portfolio wide exit. 'We continuously worked towards optimising the portfolio and this sale meets the strategic objectives and targets of the fund as it approaches maturity. The fund seized upon the opportunity of the strong interest from international investors to enter the Nordic logistics and industrial market.'
