AustralianSuper has acquired a 50% stake in Oxford Properties Group’s circa €840m European industrial and logistics portfolio and in M7 Real Estate as part of a new I&L joint venture.
The JV partnership will provide further capital to fund the growth of the portfolio, known as the European Supply Chain Income Partnership (ESCIP), and is targeting €4.5bn GAV of high-quality, last mile and mid-box warehouses over the next three to five years.
The portfolio currently comprises circa 730,000 sq m of urban logistics and distribution warehouses across 76 assets located in the UK, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.
M7 Real Estate – the European investment and asset management business acquired by Oxford in 2021 – will be responsible for sourcing new opportunities for the JV and managing the portfolio.
The JV partners are targeting income-led exposure across the pan-European supply chain, with a continued focus on both smaller, multi-tenanted, core+ or value-add assets located near large cities and population centres, alongside a core+ mid-box strategy seeking investments into larger distribution and warehouse assets in key logistics corridors, throughout the six target markets of the venture.
Paul Clark, head of European real assets at AustralianSuper, said: “We believe urban logistics and distribution represents one the most compelling sector opportunities in European real estate today, and have been tracking the sector for several years to find the right portfolio that meets our ambitions, with strong fundamentals and significant growth potential.
“We are delighted to partner with the Oxford and M7 teams, investors with proven track records operating and growing high-quality logistics portfolios, to scale the ESCIP platform together using our collective expertise, generating long-term performance for members.”
Joanne McNamara (pictured), executive vice president, head of Europe at Oxford Properties, added: “This strategic partnership with AustralianSuper brings a significant and, importantly, a like-minded capital partner alongside us into both the M7 portfolio and the M7 Real Estate platform. This creates full alignment between all three parties from day one, while providing fresh capital from both partners to grow the platform as we enter into a new real estate cycle.
“We believe there are exciting prospects in this high conviction strategy, a major pillar of Oxford’s capital deployment ambitions in the region for 2025, with a compelling pipeline of investment opportunities which we expect to announce in short order.”
David Ebbrell, CEO of M7 Real Estate, said: “Since its foundation M7 Real Estate has been a go-to partner for some of the world’s largest and most respected real estate investors wishing to access the European multi let and urban logistics sector. Having been acquired by Oxford Properties in 2021 and enjoyed a very successful partnership over the past four years, we are very excited at the prospect of now working alongside AustralianSuper as well.
“Not only is AustralianSuper’s investment into our business another huge endorsement of M7 Real Estate’s team, its expertise and long track record of creating value, the support of Australia’s largest superannuation fund also brings with it a commitment to invest significantly through our platform alongside Oxford Properties into the European industrial and logistics sector over the next few years, helping us achieve our own ambitions for growth.”
The transaction is expected to complete at the end of Q1 2025 and is conditional on customary regulatory approvals.
