Starwood links up with M7 for €500m European industrial JV

US-based Starwood Capital Group is teaming up with pan-European asset manager M7 Real Estate to launch a new joint venture aimed at investing up to €500 mln in industrial real estate in Continental Europe.

MStar Europe will initially focus on the German market, where the first acquisitions are to be made by the end of May 2014.

'The time is right to be investing in this exciting sector and we have already submitted a number of offers and entered the due diligence process for 10 larger properties,' commented Alyssa Huse, managing shareholder of the German subsidiary, M7 Real Estate Germany. 'We are looking at light industrial properties, warehouses and business parks with multiple tenants in a range of €3–10 mln per property. We are also interested in portfolios of up to €100 mln.'

In terms of location, the JV’s focus is on the former West German states, she added.

In addition to Germany and the group's head office in the UK, M7 Real Estate also has offices in Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland. There are plans to open a branch in France within the next few months.

The MStar Europe joint venture is the second cooperation between M7 and Starwood. The first joint venture, MStar, which was launched in June 2013, has to date acquired 23 industrial properties in the UK.

M7 Real Estate is a pan-European industrial asset manager with operations in the UK, Germany, Denmark, Poland and the Netherlands. M7 has existing JV’s with Starwood Capital, Oaktree Capital Management, Westbrook Partners and H.I.G. Bayside, as well as owning assets directly on its balance sheet. The firm currently manages a portfolio of over 250 assets representing an investment volume total of more than €600 mln.