European last-mile real estate specialist Valor Real Estate Partners has secured a €54 mln debt loan from Nuveen Real Estate.
The five-year, c. 65% loan-to-cost facility consists of a €33.8 mln refinancing tranche and €19.7 mln capital expenditure tranche.
The loan is secured against three urban, infill logistics properties in submarkets of Berlin that suffer from a lack of high-specification distribution space.
The first is a 18,239 m2 distribution warehouse redevelopment in Berlin Pankow, due for completion in Q2 2023.
The energy efficient property comprises six units and is completely pre-leased to two tenants.
The second is a 18,881 m2 property, recently acquired via a short-term lease back and located 12 km Northeast of Berlin city centre.
The plan is to deliver a modern warehouse with over 30 dock and level access doors and 100+ parking spaces.
Located on the Neuenhagen Business Park, the third assets consists of two cross-dock units which will be lightly refurbished after the expiry of the current tenant’s lease, offering 35 truck & 38 car parking spaces.
Miles Muthu, Valor debt capital markets and transaction lead, said: ‘Given the wider macroeconomic environment, our defensive value-add strategy targeting urban infill logistics assets within critically undersupplied submarkets has been well received by prospective lenders. Nuveen is fully aligned with our strategy for these assets and we look forward to working with its experienced team moving forward.’
Matthew Phillips, partner and head of finance & operations at Valor, commented: ‘This first transaction with Nuveen adds another blue-chip institution to our select pool of lending partners, validating our strategy and providing additional liquidity to our funds. Having opened two offices in Germany in the past year, Valor’s “boots on the ground” strategy across Europe means our team of some 50 investment professionals can act quickly to execute on infill logistics assets. With around €3bn of dry powder to deploy we are looking forward to expanding our footprint in Germany and across Europe.’
Peter Hansell, senior director, real estate debt strategies, Europe, at Nuveen, added: ‘The loan is the first investment for Nuveen’s fourth European debt strategy and represented an excellent opportunity to make an investment secured on European last mile assets working alongside an experienced and successful partner. Nuveen continues to seek similar value-add lending opportunities in Europe partnering with strong platforms such as Valor.’
Valor was advised by CMS and Nuveen was advised by Simmons & Simmons LLP.
