Delin Property and Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) have formed a new joint venture targeting value-add opportunities in the logistics sector.
The joint venture has completed its first acquisition, purchasing a 200,000 sq ft warehouse on Colebrook Industrial Estate in Royal Tunbridge Wells, which has been vacated by former owner M&S.
Delin Property will now oversee a full refurbishment programme to enhance the environmental credentials of the warehouse, with the total cost of acquiring the 9.8-acre site and refurbishing it coming it at around £27m.
Raffi Killian, head of investments at Delin Property, said: “This is a excellent start for our partnership with Markaz. We sourced this asset at an attractive entry price and have a detailed plan for it, leveraging all our team’s skills. We’re taking a dated asset with low site density in a great location that needs hands-on asset management to meet today’s occupier needs. In Markaz we have an ideal JV partner, since it has been running a successful development strategy focused on the European industrial sector for the past seven years.”
Lisa Amin, head of European real estate business development at Markaz, added: “We’re delighted to be joining forces with Delin Property, which has built a strong track record in value creation in the logistics space over more than a decade. This property ticks every box for our investors, with strong occupier demand for this location, given its proximity to London and access onto a major artery for cross-Channel freight traffic. We look forward to working with the Delin team on more opportunities of this type in the future.”
Newmark and CMS advised the joint venture on the acquisition of the warehouse and LSH acted for the vendor. BLME is the lending partner on the transaction, providing acquisition and development debt.
