Heitman buys German self-storage ahead of institutions
Property investment manager Heitman has acquired the All Seasons self-storage platform based in Northwestern Germany, in line with its global investment strategy of focusing on long term investment themes and of smart diversification.
All Seasons has facilities in Oldenburg near Bremen, Osnabruck near Münster and, and Porta Westfalica, west of Hanover.
Heitman has managed investments in self-storage since 1996 and currently manages more than $5 billion of self-storage assets world-wide. In Europe, a Heitman-managed investment vehicle owned 51% of Shurgard, the region’s largest self-storage operator, for more than 10 years prior to Shurgard’s IPO in 2018.
“Our long standing expertise in self-storage leads us to believe that investors in European self-storage can benefit from being early movers into the asset class as the sector matures,” said Heitman senior managing director and portfolio manager Gordon Black.
Heitman’s investment in the German self-storage market follows recent acquisitions in the UK and has been timed to reap benefits anticipated from the expected institutionalisation of the sector.
“Today, the European self-storage sector is nascent and fragmented, especially compared to the US self-storage sector, and it offers opportunities to aggregate assets, consolidate platforms, and drive value via operational and financial synergies,” said Heitman Germany managing director Sébastian Cavé.
