M7 Real Estate and Centerbridge Partners have launched a €250m joint venture targeting the industrial outdoor storage (IOS) sector in Continental Europe.
The JV will acquire IOS assets in urban areas with high industrial and logistics activity, strong transportation connections and large population catchments across Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.
M7 and Centerbridge have already closed one acquisition and have signed a second deal for a total of about €20m.
Miles Chuter, director at M7 Real Estate, said: “Industrial outdoor storage is emerging as a high growth sub-sector of the industrial and logistics market in Europe, underpinned by the expansion of e-commerce and consolidation of global supply chains. There has been a significant level of demand from occupiers for this space in the UK and we expect European markets to follow a similar trend.
“M7 and Centerbridge have identified an opportunity to be an early mover in this sub-sector in Europe, with ambitions to create a scalable institutional platform. The JV will combine our deep on the ground knowledge and asset management expertise across Europe with Centerbridge’s experience in the US and UK IOS markets to capitalise on this sub-sector’s strong fundamentals and target attractive returns.”
Nicolas Papamichael, managing director at Centerbridge, added: “We are excited to extend our longstanding partnership with M7 to invest in a sector that benefits from uniquely strong fundamentals. Our experience from existing IOS investments in the US and the UK, alongside M7’s pan-European presence and strong asset management capabilities, positions us well to build a market leading IOS portfolio in Europe.”
