€300m Bouwinvest and Clarion jv targets logistics
Netherlands-based property investment manager Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors and an unnamed second institutional real estate investor have created a joint venture with logistics specialist Clarion Partners Europe to invest €300 million in logistics opportunities across Europe.
The partners said in a statement that their targets are strategically located, core plus, value-add and build-to-core assets.
They also said that the venture wants to invest in opportunities in a sector that has benefitted from an acceleration of the structural changes that are underpinning the growth of e-commerce “against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic”.
It wants to build a portfolio of industrial assets in the €20 million to €100 million value range and said that it will develop assets and create value through investing in underperforming assets.
Logistics sector driven by ‘favourable megatrends’
“The logistics sector is a growth market,” said Bouwinvest senior portfolio manager European investments Jasper Petit. “It is well positioned for the coming decade, with strong demand from occupiers and investors driven by favourable megatrends.”
This strategic venture is the first for Clarion Partners Europe (formerly Gramercy Europe), which has acquired and managed more than €2.5 billion of European logistics real estate, since Clarion Partners LLC acquired a majority stake in the company in April last year. Clarion Partners LLC is one of the largest investment advisers focused on industrial assets with a $20 billion, 750-property U.S. industrial portfolio.
Alistair Calvert, CEO of Clarion Partners Europe, commented: “The Covid-19 pandemic has only served to accelerate demand for well located, industrial product in established locations in response to changing consumer behaviour.”
