Union Investment has sold a logistics portfolio comprising two assets in the Netherlands for an undisclosed sum. In Nijmegen, a 35,000m² distribution centre located at Bijsterhuizen 1127 was sold to its tenant while in Eindhoven, a 64,000m² warehouse was sold to Aviva Investors.
The contemporary warehouse property in Nijmegen was designed by local architect firm Schreven BV, constructed between 1997 and 2000, and features 10 - 14.5 meters clear height and up to 5,000 kg/m² floor load capacity. It is fully leased to a worldwide courier, who purchased the property for its own use.
The Eindhoven facility is located within the logistics distribution centre ‘Acht’ in Eindhoven, situated close to both the A2 and A67 motorways and the city’s international airport, whilst also being adjacent to one of the main railroad arteries which provides direct access to the Rotterdam harbour.
Stephan Riechers, Head of Investment Management Logistics & Light Industrial at Union Investment, said: “The transaction follows our recent acquisition of a Pan-European logistics portfolio that contained these assets. They were sold as they did not align with the strategy of our open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Europa. We typically focus on new developments, new builds and existing properties built in the last 10 years. The transaction was a good opportunity to optimize the fund’s portfolio.”
Douglas van Oers, Director and Co-Head Logistics & Industrial at Savills in the Netherlands, said: “The logistics real estate stock in the Netherlands grew by 3 million m² in 2020, while the vacancy rate fell from 6.1% to 5.6%, indicating continued interest in logistics real estate. In 2020, over 2.6 million m² of logistics real estate was leased and this ongoing demand is causing rents in many regions to rise. The Eindhoven asset aligned perfectly with Aviva Investors’ desire to invest in strategically important locations for their European logistics portfolio, and the asset management opportunities of this particular property caught their interest.”
