Australian sheds giant Goodman is seeking a development partner to forward purchase the bulk of its European industrial sites.
Agents have been instructed to find a €472m (£337m) forward funder for a pan-European platform of 15 development sites, in a process known as Project Osprey.
Osprey is expected to attract interest from pension funds and sovereign wealth funds looking for a launchpad into the European logistics market. Private equity-backed firms such as Logicor and P3 Logistics Parks have been building substantial platforms through large-scale portfolio purchases this year in the face of demand for high-yielding European sheds.
Bumper logistics deals 2015
May Nordic Real Estate Partners sells €650m Logistics Fund
comprising Swedish, Danish and Finnish assets to Danish pension fund consortium
June Warburg-HIH and TIAA CREF sells €346m portfolio
of French, German, Spanish and Dutch assets to CBRE GI
June Logicor buys Goodman’s €300m French and German Shine Portfolio.
On the market
• Immofinanz’s €500m German and Central and Eastern European portfolio
• Prologis’ €600m pan-European Stellar Portfolio
The Osprey portfolio comprises 9.1m sq ft of mostly undeveloped space, along with three leased industrial parks, two of which are completed.
The sites – phased for completion between Q3 2015 and Q1 2018 – are located in Germany, France, Poland, Spain, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Goodman would finance and develop the sites until practical completion then transfer them to the funding partner, which would be required to take on at least €200m of the assets.
A deal at the asking price would represent a combined gross initial yield of 7.93% on an estimated rental value of €37.4m – equating to €4.10 per sq ft.
Goodman has sold $1.8bn (£1.1bn) of assets in popular markets in the past year to rotate capital into high-growth opportunities. It has a development pipeline with an end value of $3.1bn.
In June, it sold €300m of completed French and German sheds to Logicor in the 19-asset Shine Portfolio.
A source said: “It is cashing out of fully priced Europe to invest in the newer, riskier markets. We know investors are desperate to get their hands on continental sheds, but forward selling a whole development platform without tenants is another level.”
Four of the parks are in Germany, two in France, six in Poland, and one each in Spain, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The largest by size is in Bratislava, at 945,000 sq ft, followed by a 770,000 sq ft park in Madrid, a 729,000 sq ft park in Bedburg, Germany, and a 641,000 sq ft site in Lille.
JLL and CBRE have been appointed to market the portfolio.
