Barings acquires Karstadt’s main German logistics facility for approximately €90 million from M7 Real Estate

London, 6 March 2018 – Barings Real Estate, part of Barings LLC, one of the world’s largest diversified real estate investment managers, announces that it has acquired a 184,000 sq m logistics asset in Germany for approximately €90 million from a joint venture between a U.S. investor and M7 Real Estate (“M7”), the pan-European real estate investor and asset manager. Barings has acquired the property on behalf of a U.S. institutional investor and the purchase represents one of the largest transactions within the European logistics sector over the last 12 months.

The asset is fully let to the department store chain Karstadt until 2026 and it operates as their national distribution site. The asset is located in Unna, a city at the border of the Ruhrgebiet close to Dortmund, and is one of the leading logistics clusters in Germany due to the significant population in the state of Northrhine Westfalia and excellent transportation links offering both strong north-south and east-west connections.

Christoph Wittkop, Managing Director and Country Head, Germany at Barings, said: “Following recent acquisitions of logistics assets in both Spain and France, we are pleased to have now completed our first acquisition in this sector in Germany. We are planning to significantly increase our logistics exposure across Europe, including CEE, through the acquisition of existing assets as well as through forward funding or purchasing developments. We are targeting core to value add opportunities and will consider both single properties, as well as country-focused or pan-European portfolios.”

“By acquiring the Unna logistics scheme over two years ago, our timing was excellent. We quickly succeeded in generating an attractive investment product, for which there were numerous potential buyers. This enabled us to realise a significant value increase for the joint venture’s shareholders, while leaving further potential value creation for the purchaser,” explains Alyssa Huse, Managing Director of M7 in Germany.

Savills acted as agent on the transaction and Barings was advised by RLI Investors. Goodwin acted as legal adviser to Barings while Simmons & Simmons acted for the vendor.