Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC announced that it is acquiring a sizable German retail logistics real estate portfolio covering 33 assets in prime urban locations in major cities and towns in Germany.
The acquisition of the Matrix portfolio will be carried out by P3 Logistics Parks, a European logistics property company that GIC acquired in 2016 for 2.4 billion euros ($2.7 billion). GIC said the new portfolio will be managed by P3. Financial details of the current transaction were not disclosed.
The Matrix portfolio covers over 650,000 sqm of space in Berlin, Dortmund, Nuremberg, Hamburg, Hanover, Cologne, Dresden, and Leipzig.
P3 Logistics Park Chief Investment Officer Otis Spencer said the acquisition is one of the largest real estate investment deals in Europe this year and one of the largest in Germany.
“It reflects our forward-looking strategy of making investments that will sustain our future growth and increase our market share in the pan-European market,” Spencer said.
P3, headquartered in Prague, manages and develops European warehouse properties, and has operations in 13 countries, with over 5.3 million sq m assets under management and land bank for further development.
Lee Kok Sun, chief investment officer of Real Estate at GIC, said logistics continues to be an area of focus for GIC as it expects the sector to generate resilient long-term returns amidst the uncertain environment, supported by growing e-commerce demand.
“This is an attractive opportunity to strengthen P3’s presence in strategic urban locations, scale up the P3 platform, and reinforce its position as a leading developer and manager of logistics properties in Europe,” said Lee Kok Sun, chief investment officer of Real Estate at GIC.
The acquisition comes less than 12 months after GIC acquired Maximus, a pan-European logistics real estate portfolio from funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management Inc for 950 million euros ($1 billion).
The Maximus portfolio covers over 1 million square meters of industrial space and comprises 28 logistics assets located in logistics hubs across Europe, including Germany, Poland, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Austria.
GIC has been aggressively buying properties in advanced markets since the 2008 financial crisis. Last year, the Singapore fund snapped up PB6, a Grade A office tower in Paris, for a reported $592 million. PB6, also known as Tour EDF, was built for and is fully leased by Electricite de France (EDF), France’s main electricity company. It is the tallest skyscraper built in the La Defense business district in Paris.
