Aberdeen Standard acquires Barcelona logistics asset for €18.8m (ES)

Aberdeen Standard acquires Barcelona logistics asset for €18.8m (ES)

Aberdeen Standard European Logistics Income has acquired a modern urban logistics warehouse in Barcelona, Spain’s second-most populous city. The purchase price of €18.8m reflects a net initial yield of 3.7% and net reversionary yield of 4.7%. This 13,907m² asset is located in the first ring of Barcelona, within a 25-minute drive (27km) of the city centre and is well-positioned to benefit from the growth of e-commerce and the scarcity of development opportunities, which provides strong rental growth potential. The local market is characterised by a low vacancy rate of 3%, which falls to 1% for the first ring, reflecting naturally occurring land constraints, with the city surrounded by the sea and mountains.

 

The asset is located on the Polinyà Logistic Park, a strategically positioned and highly consolidated industrial area just off the AP-7 motorway that connects Barcelona with France and the wider European market in the north, and to the south to Zaragoza, Madrid and other key cities along the Mediterranean coast of Spain. This freehold asset, which was built in 2019 and meets modern specifications, is fully let to Mediapost. The property offers a high-grade specification of c.11.5 metres clear height in the warehouse area, high-quality office accommodation, 10 loading docks, LED lighting and a small solar PV installation which the Company will seek to enhance, making this a very sustainable investment. Accelerating e-commerce penetration and favourable demand-supply dynamics offers rental growth potential at the first mutual break option in 2026 or at lease expiry in 2029, whilst rental income is indexed from 2023 onwards.

 

Evert Castelein, Fund Manager for ASLI, commented: “Adding another high quality, modern urban logistics asset to the Company’s portfolio is a significant milestone, taking the gross portfolio value close to €500m. This newly built asset further enhances the Company’s strong sustainability credentials, with ten of the sixteen assets constructed in 2018 or later. Barcelona, Spain’s second-largest city by population, is a key business hub within Europe and lies at the heart of a highly industrialised and populated area along the Mediterranean Corridor, and we are confident that this well-located asset will deliver real shareholder value in the coming years. With the Investment Manager’s offices located throughout Europe, we believe we are well placed to continue sourcing attractive investment opportunities for our shareholders and delivering on our ambition to significantly scale the Company.” 

 

Tony Roper, Chairman of the Company, added: “The diversified nature of our portfolio of warehouses and its long term inflation-linked income continues to attract strong interest supporting the Company’s share price growth. There is no doubt that investors recognise the strong structural tailwinds benefitting the European logistics real estate sector. The portfolio continues to deliver attractive valuation gains for our shareholders. This reflects the modern, fit for purpose nature of the assets sourced by our Investment Manager and the strong credit profile of our occupiers, the majority of which are directly exposed to the e-commerce sector. Despite the near term impact the Meung-sur-Loire vacancy will bring, we remain confident in the ability of the portfolio to deliver long-term value and in our Investment Manager’s ability to leverage its network of local teams across Europe to source further value-enhancing acquisitions.”

Related News