Round Hill Capital (“Round Hill”), a leading European specialist real estate investment and asset management firm, announces today that it has acquired, in partnership with StepStone Group Real Estate LP (“StepStone Real Estate”), a Nordic logistics and industrial portfolio for a total purchase price of approximately €178m (USD 200m).
The portfolio comprises six aggregated portfolios holding 18 well located assets spanning approximately 326,000m² across Norway, Sweden and Denmark, providing geographic and tenant diversification and strong covenants across a diversified mix of industries. The portfolio was acquired from a group of companies of NLI Eiendomsinvest AS, a real estate investment company based in Oslo, Norway.
The acquisition marks Round Hill Capital’s entry into the Nordic region. Colliers International AS in Norway provided full advisory services to Round Hill Capital including introducing NLI Eiendomsinvest AS to Round Hill Capital in an off market transaction. Colliers in Sweden and the UK also co-assisted on the deal capitalizing on Colliers’ deep knowledge of the Nordic market and participants. DLA Piper was Round Hill’s legal advisor for the transaction. NLI Eiendomsinvest AS was advised by Pangea.
Commenting on the acquisition, Michael Bickford, founder and CEO of Round Hill Capital, said “Round Hill has been evaluating the Nordic markets for several years and is pleased to have acquired the NLI Eiendomsinvest portfolio, which provides stable rental income and positive risk adjusted returns consistent with our overall investment strategy. We will use our firm experience and expertise to build a local management team and continue to look in the market for other portfolios and assets with similar value characteristics. We believe the Nordic region benefits from positive macro-economic trends, attractive yields for commercial, industrial and logistics properties and strong rental growth.”
Per Morten Kiil, CEO of NLI Eiendomsinvest, commented on the sale: “This is the final disposal by the Fund and is in line with our strategy of a portfolio wide exit. We continuously worked towards optimizing the portfolio and this sale meets the strategic objectives and targets of the Fund as it approaches maturity. The Fund seized upon the opportunity of the strong interest from international investors to enter the Nordic logistics and industrial market.”
