Tristan Capital Partners has clinched another logistics deal for Episo 5 as it continues to amass assets in this sector for its latest opportunity fund.
Acting in partnership with regional specialist SNEL, Tristan has bought a 121,505 m2 logistics site in south-west Germany from Saar IV Sarl, a fund advised and managed by Marathon Asset Management.
Located within the logistics park 'Kleberareal' in Saarland, the site is in the vicinity of Saarbruecken. Following the acquisition, Tristan and SNEL will focus on the phased development of multiple warehouses totalling approximately 55,000 m2 of lettable space.
Tristan director Kristian Smyth said the partners will hunt for similar value-add logistics opportunities in Germany and Austria. ‘This is the first step in a broader strategy focused on expanding our German and Austrian logistics footprint,’ he said.
Tristan has made logistics the key conviction strategy for Episo 5 which has €1.7 bn of committed equity and targets a 12-14% net return. Taking debt into account, the manager could easily agglomerate over €1 bn of logistics and still have capital to invest in other deals.
The fund began investing in February 2019 and has also bought industrial and logistics in France and the UK.
In Q3, Episo 3, together with Catella Asset Management, made a circa €180 mln sale-and-leaseback acquisition of 50 properties let to French transport group Jacky Perrenot.
The portfolio is made up of 280,000 m² located mostly on the Lille-Paris-Lyon-Marseille backbone. A Tristan adviser on that deal, Racine, said that these assets form the basis of a platform dedicated to logistics in France within Episo 5 which could reach €500 mln.
The UK Q3 transaction was 11 new buildings totaling 668,000 sq ft in the UK regions which required leasing up and which the fund bought in September 2020 for £68 mln (€76.4 mln)
Episo 5’s other stand-out deal this year was a German residential and commercial portfolio, mainly located in Berlin. The fund paid €284 mln for INHAG and its 23 assets. Tristan is partnering with Berlin-based KauriCAB to work the properties.
