EXPO Real: Second vehicle for last-mile platform Crossbay

Pan-European real estate investment manager Mark, is to expand its urban logistics platform Crossbay with a second investment vehicle targeting assets with a collective gross value of more than €2billion.

Marco Riva.

The new investment vehicle will acquire existing single-user last-mile facilities in major European gateway cities, focusing on assets in urban infill locations where rental growth is expected to be strongest.

Crossbay II will fund initial acquisitions through a €250 million pan-European debt facility from global investment bank Citi, which had previously provided €400 million in debt financing for the first Crossbay vehicle.

As part of the expansion strategy, Crossbay II will extend its geographical coverage to countries such as Denmark, Sweden and the UK.

Crossbay II will have a greater focus on asset management and leasing initiatives to drive rental growth, which is accelerating as demand continues to outstrip supply by such a large margin. Crossbay II will also seek to develop assets with a strong emphasis on sustainability in prime locations where there is a severe undersupply.

The announcement follows the successful sale of Crossbay’s first portfolio to Prologis for close to €1.6bn, representing a stabilised exit yield of just under 4.25%. The transaction, which closed in September despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, is the largest European warehouse portfolio sale to complete this year.

Marco Riva, CEO of Crossbay and head of logistics at Mark, said: “Having acquired our first last-mile assets in 2018, Crossbay benefited enormously from an early mover advantage, which enabled us to create a market-leading pure-play urban logistics portfolio that attracted the attention of the world’s largest logistics owner and operator.”

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