TPG has launched a UK logistics investment platform less than a year after selling P3 Logistics Parks for €2.4bn.
The US private equity firm has entered into a joint venture with UK company Stoford Developments to form Icon Industrial.
The joint venture has made its investment, acquiring 45 acres of land next to Manchester Airport on which it plans to build into a £100m (€113m) prime logistics asset.
The land has planning permission for 952,000sqft of lettable logistics space and is an area of the airport designated for logistics development.
It was sold by Airport City Manchester, a joint venture between Manchester Airport Group (MAG), Chinese developer BCEG, UK listed company Carillion and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund.
MAG itself is jointly owned by Greater Manchester councils and Australian infrastructure investment manager IFM Investors.
Lynda Shillaw, chief executive for property at MAG, said: “Airport City Manchester is a really exciting location for occupiers, located at the southern growth node of the region, an already well-established business location alongside the Manchester Airport campus.”
Krysto Nikolic, partner at TPG Real Estate, said: “Icon’s first acquisition, near Manchester Airport, is of one of the highest quality logistics locations in the country.
TPG Real Estate, a subsidiary of TPG, and Stoford said they “intend to build Icon Industrial into a logistics platform by acquiring and developing similarly attractive UK sites, as well as refurbishing existing prime logistics locations”.
Last year, TPG and Ivanhoé Cambridge sold European logistics platform P3 to Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC.
Nikolic said: “The continued strength in occupational demand for UK logistics represents a compelling investment opportunity.”
Dan Gallagher, joint managing director at Stoford, said: “The joint venture with TPG Real Estate is a new phase in Stoford’s business development.
“The support of our new partners will open doors for the acquisition of land and development of prime logistic opportunities within the UK.”
