Germany - Transparency, Logistics
Germany - Transparency, Logistics
Apart from Blackstone’s mega-plans with its Mileway project (see elsewhere in this issue), there were several other notable German logistics deals throughout September, both by experienced German hands and new foreign debutants putting down their markers.
French group La Francaise bought its first logistics asset, acting for its South Korean partners Samsung Securities and KB Securities, when it bought a 150,000 sqm purpose-built e-commerce fulfillment centre in Rheindahlen near Düsseldorf in the Rhine Ruhr region from developer Ixocon Immobilien. The property, with more than 1,000 car parking spaces and 180 trailer bays, is leased to Amazon.
The price was put at about 260 billion won (about €196m). Financing was provided by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale. According to a Samsung Securities official, "Samsung Securities will initially inject 100 billion won for the deal while financing the remaining 160 billion won through a mortgage loan from local financial institutes in Germany."
According to Korean medium Maeil Business News, Samsung plans to structuralize the centre's assets to establish an equity fund before reselling it in Korea. It expects an annual return of up to 8% via the fund.
The deal is the third of its kind for Samsung Securities in buying an Amazon logistics center. The securities firm acquired the e-commerce giant's logistics center in Leicester, England, for 210 billion won in 2016 and a second asset in Hannover, Germany, for 110 billion won last year. Samsung Securities also bought the Lumiere building in Paris for 1.5 trillion won earlier this year via a consortium with Hanwha Investment & Securities and Samsung SRA Asset Management.
Jens Goettler, La Francaise’s managing director for Germany, said: “For La Française, this is a landmark transaction on behalf of South Korean investors, keen on diversifying their portfolios into e-commerce led investment themes. As e-commerce penetration deepens, the German logistics real estate market continues to show positive signs both in terms of valuations and rental values and we will continue to seek quality assets for our clients.”
Meanwhile, German fund giant Union Investment bought a logistics property portfolio from German logistics service provider Trans Service Team (TST) for €120m.
The manager’s open-ended real estate fund Unilmmo Europa is buying the 120,000 sqm portfolio, consisting of an existing property and three development projects in the Ruhr and Rheinhessen regions. TST, together with the Worms-based Timbra Group will handle development, planning and sale.
Union Investment’s logistics portfolio now numbers 22 properties, and projects worth more than €1bn.
And continental European logistics firm Tritax Eurobox also expanded its German logistics portfolio by buying two assets in the GVZ Freight Village in Bremen (Germany’s second largest port area), with 58,000 sqm of space, for €60.3m. The price paid reflects a net initial yield of 4.8%, which the company said was highly reversionary against current market rents in this location. The buys bring Tritax Eurobox’s logistics portfolio in Europe to €670m, of which €212m is in Germany.
The first asset was built this year and is let to exclusively to Kieserling Spedition + Logistik on a ten-year lease. The second property, developed in 2013, is let to Kieserling Spedition + Logistik, THIMM Packaging Systems and Bremer Spirituosen, on shorter leases with the benefit of a third-party rental guarantee. The weighted unexpired lease term of both properties is 8.1 years, with rent subject to annual indexation of 85% of the German CPI.
Nick Preston, fund manager of Tritax EuroBox, said: “Situated in Bremen, one of the strongest logistics locations in Germany, these two modern, high specification facilities provide attractive income with scope for reversionary income growth and identified value enhancement through asset management.”
Further south in Germany, RLI Investors is acquiring an 18,600 sqm logistics property in the Rhine/Main logistics region, in an off-market transaction, for its open-ended special AIF RLI Logistics Fund – Germany II. The seller is a closed-end real estate fund based in Bavaria. The property is fully let on a long lease to a globally active automotive components supplier.
According to Katrin Poos, managing director of RLI Investors, "We were able to acquire the logistics property at a reasonable price, which will have an extremely positive effect on securing the planned 6.75% target return for the fund. Together with its absolutely central location in one of the most dynamic logistics regions in Germany, the decisive factor behind the acquisition of the existing property in Ginsheim-Gustavsburg was its excellent adaptability.”
Poos said that the location of the logistics property, which was built in 1992, is strategically important for its US-based tenant. It is used to test, assemble and pack 'just-in-time' car seats before delivery to the customer in Russelsheim, 10 kilometres away. The flexibly divisible hall, which is accessible from all sides, has 22 loading ramps. The property provides 16,500 sqm of hall space and 2,100 sqm of offices.
