Shurgard buys Dutch storage chain City Box for over €110m

Self-storage specialist Shurgard has taken over one of its largest rivals in the Netherlands, City Box, for more than €110 mln.

The acquisition of the 89,360 m2 CityBox chain from Austrian listed property company Immofinanz extends Shurgard’s Dutch network from 40 to 63 storage locations. It cements Shurgard's position as Europe's largest manager and developer of self-storage facilities, with over 200 locations in seven countries.

The price of the transaction was not disclosed, but it is understood to be greater than CityBox’s book value of €111 mln cited in Immofinanz's 2013-2014 financial report.

In a statement Immofinanz said it had disposed of the storage chain to reduce the proportion of non-core assets in its standing investment portfolio from 3.5% to 1.5%.

CEO Oliver Schumy said: ‘This sale represents a further strategic step to adjust and optimise our portfolio and concentrate on our core markets in Central and Eastern Europe. At the same time, we are also benefitting from the dynamic demand by investors in this segment.’

City Box was founded in 2002 and is one of the leading self- storage providers in the Netherlands. It operates over 20 outlets with 21,420 units covering more than 89,000 m2 and 75 employees. Units sizes range from 1 m2 to 50 m2 and may be rented for a minimum period of one month.