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Warehouse and logistic space
In March this year Hines kicked off the strategy by buying a logistics complex in Maintal, outside of Frankfurt am Main. The plan is to make capital investment of up to €400m in small to mid-sized logistics properties over the next two years.
The Luxembourg-based Alpha Industrial Holding SA is selling the largest part of its logistics and light industrial property holdings with 600,000 sqm of total space across Germany and Austria to Asian investor, Frasers Property Europe.
Around 30% of the portfolio was bought and developed together with an Anglo-Saxon opportunistic investor partner. Apart from the properties sold, the project development and asset management unit Alpha Industrial GmbH & Co KG will also be transferred to the buyer. The sale will take effect as of 30 June 2018. Alpha Industrial had built its portfolio to more than 300,000 sqm of logistics space over the last three years.
The deal involves 16 completed logistics and light industrial facilities, with a combined gross lettable area of about 395,000 sqm, let to blue-chip tenants with WALT of 6.2 years, as well as a further six logistical projects as developments and forward deals with a gross lettable area of 162,500 sqm.
The company said its rump investments would form the basis of a new build-up of a multi-family office with a focus on property investment. This will see the new multi-family office accompanying holdings and project developments with other investors and providing capital for these ventures. The firm will also invest in residential property, and has already acquired a 2-hectare plot in Frankfurt’s inner city on which it will develop a number of flats.
For Frasers Property Europe, part of the Singapore-headquartered Frasers group, this is the second large-scale deal in the past few months following the acquisition of the ECE-Hermes logistics portfolio (reported on here in REFIRE). It brings Frasers portfolio in Europe to €1.6bn and more than 1.3bn sqm of gross lettable area.
According to Mr. Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi, Group CEO of Frasers Property, the deal with Alpha complements Frasers’ existing platform in Europe. “From a business perspective, Alpha Industrial has a focused strategy for growth, specialising in the development of green and brown-field properties for conversion into modern logistics and industrial facilities. The ability to creat assets is part of our long-term strategy that has served us well in Australia, Singapore and Thailand. The acquisition presents an attractive entry point, given the high quality and location of the assets, defensive portfolio metrics, and solid tenancy profile”, he said.
