WP Carey has announced a record total investment volume for its owned and managed portfolios in 2013.

WP Carey has announced a record total investment volume for its owned and managed portfolios in 2013.

The US REIT specialises in corporate sale-leaseback financing, build-to-suit financing and the acquisition of single-tenant net-lease properties.

During 2013 WP Carey applied its opportunistic strategy to deploy capital both on behalf of its own portfolio as well as its managed REITs. Its investments had a total volume of $1.8 bn (€1.3 bn) , including $460 mln (€350 mln) in Europe and involved the acquisition of office, retail, manufacturing, R&D, hotel and self-storage assets. The transactions in Europe were in the UK , Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia and Germany.

In addition to the traditional sale-leaseback and build-to-suit transactions completed in 2013, WP Carey also acquired real estate assets under pre-existing, long-term net leases that met its traditional investing criteria based on tenant creditworthiness, asset quality and long-term importance of the assets to the operations of the tenant. As a result, WP Carey not only provided financing directly to tenant companies, but also liquidity to institutional owners, investors, and developers.

WP Carey also continued to secure investments in the self-storage and hotel sectors through its managed REITs.

Trevor Bond, president and CEO of WP Carey, said: 'As the net-lease investment universe has continued to expand, we have built on our existing strengths to support and evolve our investment strategy. As a result, we are able to access a broader scope of opportunities while still adhering to the basic criteria and objectives that have been our guideposts for more than 40 years.'