SEB Asset Management and Blackstone’s Logicor sign agreement for 18 logistics properties worth €275 million (EU)

SEB Asset Management has signed an agreement with Logicor, Blackstone's European logistics platform, for the sale of a portfolio comprising 18 logistics properties in eight countries with approximately 434,300 m² of rental space. Transfer of ownership (closing) is expected to be completed in the second half of 2014.
The portfolio comprises properties in key European regions with an average economic occupancy rate of approximately 85%. The remaining lease term is 3.8 years. SEB Asset Management used a structured bidding process to sell the properties. The package sale allows SEB Asset Management to exploit the market trend and dispose of its entire logistics portfolio at an attractive price. The transaction is valued at €275 million in total, slightly less than the most recently appraised market values.
‘‘Given the current demand situation, we decided to strategically exit the logistics market and have achieved a highly satisfactory result for our investors’’, said Barbara Knoflach, CEO of SEB Asset Management AG and Managing Director of SEB Investment GmbH. ‘‘We were able to successfully complete the marketing of this regionally highly diversified portfolio within only three months thanks to our close-knit market network and the buyer’s confidence in our real estate expertise and our execution ability.’’
The 18 properties are from four different portfolios. Three properties with a current market value of approximately €37 million are from the open-ended real estate fund SEB ImmoInvest, ten properties with a current market value of just under €168 million are from SEB ImmoPortfolio Target Return Fund, four properties worth approximately €62 million are from SEB Global Property Fund’s property portfolio and one logistics building is from a special fund.
Blackstone was advised by Cushman & Wakefield on the transaction.
Source: SEB Asset Management