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Blackstone Sells Logicor To Chinese Sovereign Fund For €12.5Bn

5 June 2017 – Real Estate Press

Logicor’s Spanish logistics portfolio, which covers more than 1 million m2, has been included in the second largest real estate operation ever to be closed in Europe. The deal has involved the sale of Logicor by Blackstone to the sovereign fund China Investment Corporation CIC, for €12,500 million, according to a statement issued by the US group on Friday.

Logicor, a company created by Blackstone in 2012, owns a portfolio comprising more than 600 high-quality European logistics assets, which have a combined surface area of 13 million m2, located in 17 countries, although more than 70% of the properties are concentrated in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Southern Europe. All of the assets are located in major European economies, along the main transport corridors and very close to major population centres. The portfolio is in an ideal position to benefit from the structural changes in demand that is currently being driven by the rapid growth in on-line trade.

In Spain, the company owns a portfolio covering more than 1.2 million m2, located primarily in Madrid and Barcelona, after having acquired assets from Axa, CBRE GI, SEP Investment, Gran Europa and General Electric, amongst others. Half of the Spanish portfolio is located in the Corredor de Henares. Logicor’s most recent acquisitions in Spain have included two warehouses spanning 70,000 m2 in Torrejón de Ardoz from IDI Gazeley, a purchase that formed part of a larger European operation covering 200,000 m2; and a 82,000 m2 space, which itacquired from Godman, also as part of a larger European operation.

With the sale of Logicor, Blackstone has repeated the move it made with IndCor in the United States in December 2014. On that occasion, the buyer was the Singapore sovereign fund, GIC, which paid $8,500 million for IndCor’s logistics assets, which covered a total logistics surface area of 12 million m2. And it was Blackstone that was the first to predict the effect that logistics spaces would have with the arrival of e-commerce, in addition to its great capacity to raise capital.

Antony Meyers, Director of Real Estate at Blackstone in Europe said: “We have constructed Logicor, through more than 50 acquisitions, to be a leading pan-European logistics company”. “Now, it will have an excellent new owner, with a long-term vision and we have no doubt that it will maintain its strength in a sector that has a very positive outlook”.

CIC fought off competition in the bid for Logicor from Mapletree Investment and Temasek, a joint venture formed by two Singapore state funds, according to a person familiar with the bid process, as well as Global Logistics Properties, a company controlled by the Singapore sovereign fund, GIC.

Logistics spaces are going to have enormous value for e-commerce companies, such as Amazon. Logicor has focused on the growth of its business in Western Europe, where on-line shopping is less developed than in the United Kingdom. The agreement is expected to be closed before the end of the year.

Original story: Real Estate Press

Translation: Carmel Drake