Barings has completed the sale of an asset in Saint-Ouen l’Aumône, France. Acquired by Fidelity International on behalf of the Eurozone Select Real Estate Fund (FIREF), it is the second disposal in France on behalf of Barings’ pan-European logistics joint venture (PELV), closely following that of an asset in Béziers in the south of the country near the Spanish border.
Barings acquired the asset in Saint-Ouen l’Aumône, a suburb to the northwest of Paris, in December 2020 with the intention of redeveloping the existing building into a 23,760m² logistics platform that was 50% pre-let. Despite the pandemic, construction was completed in September 2021 at which point it was already 85% pre-let. Barings fully let the property to four tenants by mid-2022 and marketed the property with the help of BNP Paribas and CBRE.
The asset is located in Greater Paris, within a top logistics hub in the French capital, and is 25km from the Paris ring road and 40km from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. The asset features a net lettable area of 23,760m² of Grade A logistics space, including two cold negative and positive storage cells. The asset has achieved a BREEAM Good certification.
Guillaume Bieganski, Managing Director and Head of French Real Estate at Barings, said: “Having carried out our strategic asset management initiatives to redevelop this asset into a Grade A space, we are disposing of the building in line with our business plan. The logistics market in France remains an attractive one for Barings given the fundamentals of the sector, and we’re continuing to explore opportunities in logistics as well as our other preferred sectors of residential and prime offices in city centre locations.”
Robert Schneider, Managing Director and PELV Portfolio Manager at Barings said: “This latest disposal on behalf of PELV demonstrates the strength of our asset management proposition amid a challenging economic market. With Barings’ approach of combining on-the-ground expertise with global insights, we’re well placed to continue seeking attractive returns for our investors. PELV remains active in our preferred jurisdictions, which include France, Italy, the UK, Spain, the Netherlands and the Nordics, although we will be uncompromising on price, location and quality of assets as we seek to deploy our investors’ capital in spaces that we believe offer strong potential.”
