Key logistics transactions in November – roundup

A number of significant logistics deals took place throughout November involving several key players in the sector and banks that have committed increasing resources to German logistics.

Dutch property group Genaba Properties paid €150m for two logistics buildings and a light-industrial property with a total of 195,000 sqm in Germany. The assets are in Mülheim (a business park with 122,000 gross lettable area), Ulm (24,500 sqm), and Gottmadingen near Lake Constance in the south of Germany (with 49,000 sqm). Tenants include Siemens, Co.op and aluminium processor Constellium. The weighted average lease term is ten years, and yield more than 10% IRR. Financing partners were Deutsche Pfandbriefbank in Mülheim, HypoVereinsbank in Ulm, and Helaba in Gottmadingen. The deals boost Genaba's German protfolio to €680m.

DekaBank financed a German portfolio of three core logistics assets on behalf of a Joint Venture between the UK REIT Segro and a Canadian pension fund. The loan volume totals €59.1m. The properties are all fully let on long leases to established logistics tenants and extend to a total area of 131,000 sqm. The properties are located in Krefeld, Oberhausen and Neuss.

Amar Latif, in charge of the German real estate lending activities at DekaBank commented: "This financing follows on the back of other successful deals already financed in Germany this year by DekaBank involving core assets and experienced sponsors.“

An affiliate of Dubai-based multi-family office Tilad has bought a logistics centre project in North Germany from giant Hamburg-based developer ECE in a forward deal, thought to be for about €90m.

The Hermes Logistics Center development, scheduled for completion next spring, is located in Löhne, between Hannover and Dortmund. ECE said it will remain responsible for completing the three connected buildings which offer 100,000 sqm of logistics and 7,000 sqm of office and social space. The firm aims to win the Silver German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) certificate. The asset is fully leased to mail order firm Otto, owned by ECE’s controlling Otto family, and will be used by the Hermes group.

Tilad is a Gulf-based multi-family office, which coordinates real estate investments in Europe and North America on behalf of its sponsors. Among recent acquisitions in Germany is the 48,000 sqm office complex in the Berlin district of Charlottenburg, and a 28,000 sqm retail store in Munich. Last year, the firm bought a logistics centre leased to car manufacturer BMW near Munich for €44m on behalf of a private consortium of Arab investors. ECE has been developing retail and industrial real estate and other buildings since 1965.

Meanwhile, the Hamburg-based Garbe Logistic bought 11 industrial assets from Munich developer Doblinger for its first corporate property Special Fund, which has €160m in equity commitments.

The portfolio generates annual rental income of €15m and has an average lease term of eight years. Assets are located in the Berlin, Munich, Cologne, Hamburg and Frankfurt regions. The fund Garbe Unternehmensimmobilien Fonds 1 (GUNIF 1) equity commitments of over €160m are nearly fully invested with the acquisition of the portfolio, Garbe said in a statement.

According to CEO Christopher Garbe, "The launch of this property investment product and the linked asset acquisition is the natural next step in the development of our property platform in the industrial and logistics sector,”. The firm plans further investment products for institutional investors in the sector. “Our property portfolio is growing steadily and is worth over €400m at the moment – and we have the option to place this over the next 12 months,” said Garbe. The firm manages 60 assets in 52 locations in three countries.

Bank financing for the deal was provided by Stuttgart-based landesbank LBBW. The fund was launched together with service KVG Institutional Investment Partners. Frankfurt-based placement specialist Selinus Capital was responsible for capital raising.

And finally, the rapidly-growing Patrizia Immobilien from Augsburg, which has been expanding throughout Europe across all sectors to become a real fund powerhouse, also established a new subsidiary in the Netherlands, exclusively focused on logistics deals across Europe.

According to founder and CEO Wolfgang Egger, “The e-commerce market is expanding rapidly, making logistics properties all the more interesting for investors, which is why we’ve expanded our portfolio of services with this important building block.” Patrizia's business model sees it acting as a co-investor and portfolio manager for insurance companies, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and savings and cooperative banks.