SEB AM sells pan-European logistics portfolio to Logicor and Tritax for €350m

Logicor, Blackstone’s European logistics business, is acquiring a portfolio of 18 properties from SEB Asset Management for €275 mln.

SEB AM announced on Wednesday that the parties had signed a sale agreement with Logicor for the 434,300 m2 across assets in eight countries held in the 'Curve' portfolio.

CBRE advised on what it described as the 'most geographically diverse logistics portfolio ever sold in Europe'. Cushman & Wakefield advised Blackstone.

The transaction is valued at €275 mln in total, slightly less than the most recently appraised market values. Transfer of ownership is expected to be completed in the second half of 2014.

The portfolio comprises properties in key European regions with an average economic occupancy rate of approximately 85%. The remaining lease term is 3.8 years.

19th ASSET
The final asset in the Curve portfolio, located in Doncaster, England, was a 70,147 m2 warehouse with an average unexpired lease term of over five years. It was sold separately to investment fund management house Tritax for €74 mln.

The combined, 19-asset portfolio boasts a total of 504,444 m2 of lettable space with a rent roll in excess of €24 mln per annum across 35 tenancies. The Curve Portfolio assets are held across various funds with three held in Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) and 16 as property assets.

STRATEGIC EXIT
SEB Asset Management said it used a structured bidding process to sell the properties. 'Given the current demand situation, we decided to strategically exit the logistics market and have achieved a highly satisfactory result for our investors,' said Barbara Knoflach, CEO of SEB AM and managing director of SEB Investment.

'We were able to successfully complete the marketing of this regionally highly diversified portfolio within only three months thanks to our close-knit market network and the buyer’s confidence in our real estate expertise and our execution ability,' Knoflach added.

THE PORTFOLIO
The 18 properties acquired by Logicor are from four different portfolios. Three properties with a current market value of around €37 mln are from the open-ended real estate fund SEB ImmoInvest, 10 properties with a market value of just under €168 mln are from SEB ImmoPortfolio Target Return Fund, four properties worth approximately €62 mln are from SEB Global Property Fund’s property portfolio and one logistics building is from a special fund.

Geographically, the assets sold to Blackstone were spread across Spain (4 assets), Germany (3), France (3), Austria (3), Netherlands (2), and one each in Norway, the UK and Hungary.

COMMENT
James Markby, head of EMEA industrial and logistics Investment, CBRE, commented: 'The Curve Portfolio is the most geographically diverse logistics portfolio to ever be sold in Europe. The interest we received is testament to the high level of investor demand for quality logistics assets across the continent.

'We timed the sales to coincide with the uplift in economic sentiment throughout the region, and the return of investor focus on logistics assets in markets previously considered peripheral, including Austria, Hungary, Norway and Spain.'

The complete acquisition, from the start of marketing to exchange of contracts was completed in less than 12 weeks.