Australia’s largest pension fund, AustralianSuper, has acquired a 50 per cent stake in a European industrial and logistics portfolio that contains 730,000 sqm of logistics and distribution warehouses across 76 assets.
The deal will see AustralianSuper embark on its first ever joint venture with Oxford Properties, who sold the stake in its AU$1.4 billion. The properties span urban and distribution hubs across the UK, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.
Properties in the portfolio are currently roughly 90 per cent occupied.
M7 Real Estate – an investment and asset management business Oxford acquired in 2021 – will oversee the joint venture strategy which is aimed at generating income-led exposure across the pan-European supply chain.
The portfolio is known as the European Supply Chain Income Partnership (ESCIP), and is seeking to target up to €4.5 billion gross asset volume of high-quality ‘last mile’ and mid-box warehouses over the next three to five years.
Head of European Real Assets at AustralianSuper Paul Clark says he sees extensive opportunity in investing in the worldwide transport and logistics sector.
“We believe urban logistics and distribution represents one of the most compelling sector opportunities in European real estate today and have been tracking the sector for several years to find the right portfolio that meets our ambitions, with strong fundamentals and significant growth potential” Clark says.
“We are delighted to partner with the Oxford and M7 teams, investors with proven track records operating and growing-quality logistics portfolios, to scale the ESCIP platform together using our collective expertise, generating long-term performance for members.”
AustralianSuper has a global real assets portfolio of €35 billion, with over €6 billion of that held in European investments.
The transaction is expected to complete at the end of Q1 of 2025 and is conditional on customer regulatory approvals.
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