Aberdeen is set to expand its logistics and living investments in the UK.
Anne Breen, global head of real estate, told Estates Gazette the company wants to build a logistics business with a £700m target.
Aberdeen’s existing exposure to logistics in the UK includes a tie-up with Tritax Big Box, formed when Aberdeen -managed UK Commercial Property REIT was acquired to create a combined £6.3bn portfolio.
The group is now looking to build out a “private logistics strategy”. “We are looking at a core and a core-plus strategy, depending on where we get to with capital,” Breen said.
“We are finding there is still more appetite for core-plus, value-add assets. If there is core [demand] then we can do a core and core-plus strategy. And if there isn’t appetite for core then we can do a larger core-plus strategy.”
Aberdeen also aims to expand its investment in the residential sector across a variety of strategies.
It already has a joint venture with John Lewis Partnership for build-to-rent developments. The JV has assets in Bromley, Ealing and Reading. JLP is also the operating partner for three living assets in Aberdeen’s portfolio.
The group is now looking at acquiring standing assets through that venture, alongside its development ambitions.
“You can generate income from day one,” Breen said. “The interesting thing is when you put JLP’s operating team into standing assets you can generate higher income and more efficiency and more retention of long-term tenants.”
Aberdeen is also in discussions with developers and investors in the single-family housing market over for JLP to operate schemes.
Finally, the company has engaged with the government over a potential push in the affordable housing sector, bringing lessons from its work in Germany to bear in the UK.
“We’ve got quite a big German business – they have what they call ‘subsidised housing opportunities’, where there is a third in government grants, a third in cheap finance and a third in equity,” Breen said. “It’s an interesting model, and if we can do something like that in the UK it would open the market.”
Credit: Image from Abrdn
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