Carlyle and ARA Dunedin acquire UK logistics portfolio for £102m

Oct 12, 2021 | News

Global investment firm Carlyle and ARA Dunedin today announced that their joint venture, established in March 2021, has acquired a portfolio of logistics assets in the UK from Moorfield Real Estate Fund IV for £102m.

The portfolio comprises 11 distribution logistics assets which total 1 million sq ft in lettable area. Strategically located in the South-East and North-West regions, the portfolio is currently fully leased.

Equity for the investment came from the Carlyle Europe Realty (CER) platform, Carlyle’s pan-European real estate strategy, and ARA Dunedin. This transaction builds on the joint venture’s existing UK distribution logistics portfolio of nine assets acquired earlier this year.

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European logistics is a core focus for CER given the sector has proved resilient throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and continues to benefit from the growth in e-commerce resulting in higher delivery volumes.

Anssi Halonen, Managing Director on the Carlyle Europe Realty advisory team, said: “We are delighted to make this addition to our UK logistics platform. The portfolio consists of highly complementary assets to our existing footprint, and the acquisition exemplifies our strategy of identifying well-located assets in the European distribution logistics market, which continues to be an asset class with attractive fundamentals and benefitting from strong structural trends.”

Chris Perera, Senior Investment Manager at Moorfield Group, added: “At Moorfield we are always looking for demographic, societal, technological and other trends that are driving consumer behaviour and having identified those underpinning the growth of the logistics sector many years ago, it has been and will continue to be a key part of our investment strategy. Alongside this we have undertaken a programme of value enhancing initiatives, significantly improving the income characteristics and profile of the portfolio, culminating in this strategically timed disposal.”

Carlyle and ARA Dunedin were advised by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, CBRE, CMS, Deloitte and Howden for this transaction.

Source: Market Screener

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