BY Richard Summerfield
CBRE Investment Management, a unit of CBRE Investment, has agreed to acquire several logistics assets from Hillwood Investment Properties in a deal valued at $4.9bn.
The deal includes 33 assets in the US and 24 across Germany, Poland and the UK and will close in stages throughout 2022 and possibly into 2023. The transaction will add 28.4 million square feet to CBRE’s logistics property portfolio, the company said in a statement.
“This milestone transaction reflects our ability to leverage the strong financial capacity of our parent company to secure compelling opportunities that help to drive strategic real assets solutions for our clients,” said Chuck Leitner, chief executive of CBRE Investment Management. “Backed by a $35 billion AUM global logistics platform and a skilled team with deep domain expertise, we are positioned to be one of the world’s leading investors and operators of logistics assets.”
Approximately two-thirds of the portfolio being acquired is already built and leased. The rest is either in search of tenants or still being developed. The portfolio was appealing to CBRE because it was located in markets with large labour forces, has advanced transportation systems and is close to a large number of consumers.
Hillwood has divested a number of facilities in recent years, capitalising on the increased demand for warehouse space. In late 2020, the company sold a portfolio of 23 facilities to Stockbridge Capital Group and the National Pension Service of Korea. The transaction was valued at $2bn, the largest of its kind since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time.
Industrial real estate made history in the third quarter of 2021 as e-commerce and other tenants grappled for limited US warehouse space. According to Transwestern, the segment logged 159 million square feet of net absorption — the amount of space newly occupied minus the amount vacated. It was the highest quarterly total since 2008. There is currently 637 million square feet of industrial warehouses under construction across the US, almost double the volume of five years ago.
CBRE Investment has more than $133bn in assets, including $35bn in industrial property across the world. CBRE has more than 100,000 employees serving clients in more than 100 countries. The company formed a global sector-specific team in June 2021 to enhance and better align its global logistics expertise.
News: CBRE unit to buy warehouses in U.S., Europe in $4.9 bln deal