Accelerating e-commerce growth and urbanisation across Europe underpins compelling investment opportunity

Valor Real Estate Partners (“Valor”), the pan-European logistics platform and QuadReal Property Group (“QuadReal”) have formed a joint venture (the “JV”) to invest €1 billion in urban logistics assets located in key UK, French and German cities. Launched against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, it underlines the continued appetite of investors for exposure to the European industrial sector and specifically urban ‘last mile’ logistics, a sector which has benefitted strongly from accelerating e-commerce growth in response to changing consumer behaviour.

QuadReal will be the majority investor in the JV, which will have initial capital commitments of €440 million, which with leverage, will provide in excess of €1 billion of investable capital.  QuadReal brings its extensive experience in the sector, owning and managing over 75 million square feet of single-and-multi-tenant industrial buildings across Canada.  Valor will be responsible for sourcing and managing the portfolio, leveraging its significant experience acquiring, developing in-house and managing infill logistics assets, having grown a circa €1 billion pan-European portfolio of prime urban logistics assets in just four years and which are primarily located in the highest barrier-to-entry markets of London and Paris. Amassed on behalf of two global institutional investor mandates, Valor’s European urban logistics presence currently totals 75 assets across approximately 6 million square feet.

Employing a value-add and develop to hold strategy, the JV will focus primarily on ‘last-mile’ logistics assets located in the greater metropolitan areas of London, Paris and Berlin, with a secondary focus on major UK and EU gateway cities, such as Manchester, Lyon and Frankfurt.  The JV is mandated to acquire properties across the risk spectrum, including stabilised assets, vacant or short income assets with significant repositioning potential, as well as ground-up development sites, to generate attractive risk adjusted returns.

Christian Jamison, Managing Partner, Valor, commented: “The strategically important European urban, infill market continues to offer significant opportunities for nimble and fully-integrated managers to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns. There remains a critical shortage of warehouse space in major metropolitan areas close to the necessary infrastructure to meet occupiers’ requirements, an imbalance that is growing as a result of both near term drivers, such as Covid-19, as well as long term drivers, such as urbanisation. It remains however a highly fragmented and granular segment of the industrial market which requires strong local expertise as well as technical skills, which we have demonstrated over the years in building our current portfolio.”

Jay Kwan, Managing Director Europe, QuadReal, commented: “We are incredibly excited to be partnering with Valor as we continue investing into the European industrial sector.  Urban logistics is one of our highest conviction strategies globally given the e-commerce growth that has accelerated rapidly as a result of Covid-19 and which is forcing businesses of all shapes and sizes to ensure their distribution networks are fit-for-purpose.  Valor is a fast-growing platform with proven capital deployment capabilities, and this new venture continues our strategy of working with best-in-class real estate partners with exceptional track records of generating strong returns.”

Contact

FTI Consulting
Dido Laurimore, Richard Gotla
0203-727-1575
[email protected]

About Valor REP

Valor Real Estate Partners LLP (“Valor”) is a pan-European industrial platform, headquartered in London, focused on urban/infill industrial and logistics properties in the UK, France, Germany, Benelux, Spain and Italy. Founded in 2016, it currently manages a 75 asset portfolio totalling more than 5.7 sq ft on behalf of global investors.

Christian Jamison formed Valor Real Estate partners LLP with KSH Capital LP (“KSH”) in 2016 to invest in logistics and industrial real estate across Europe.

KSH’s partners are Jeffrey Kelter and Robert Savage, the founders of KTR Capital, an investment, development and operating business focussed on industrial property in North America that was acquired by Prologis in 2015 for a total purchase price of $5.9 billion.

Prior to Valor, Christian established Delin Capital Asset Management (“DCAM”) and served as the company’s CEO until his departure from the business in February 2016. During his tenure as CEO, Jamison established DCAM within the European logistics real estate sector, built a team and created Capital Preservation Portfolio 1, a €500 million fund of prime European logistics properties totalling 6 million sq ft.

For further information please email [email protected] or visit http://www.valorrep.com/

About QuadReal

Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, QuadReal Property Group is a global real estate investment, operating and development company.  QuadReal manages the real estate and mortgage programs of British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), one of Canada’s largest asset managers with a $171.3 billion portfolio.

QuadReal manages a $44.2 billion portfolio spanning 23 Global Cities across 17 countries.   The company seeks to deliver strong investment returns while creating sustainable environments that bring value to the people and communities it serves.

quadreal.com