Blackstone invests £400m in 16 UK warehouses

Blackstone’s European logistics business Logicor has acquired 6 million square feet of UK logistics space from an Oaktree Capital Management and Anglesea Capital JV.

New York-headquartered The Blackstone Group has invested nearly £400 million ($607 million; €558 million) in a portfolio of 16 UK warehouses for its European logistics arm, Logicor, according to a source close to the transaction.

The firm used capital from Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe IV to fund the deal which saw the firm acquire 6,000,000 square feet of logistics space from an Oaktree Capital Management and Anglesea Capital joint venture. This transaction increases Logicor’s UK portfolio to 21,000,000 square feet.

The portfolio of 16 warehouse properties are located in core logistics markets close to major urban centres across the UK, including Birmingham, Leeds and Oxford. The properties are leased to tenants such as Arcadia, B&Q, The Co-Operative, Debenhams and Unipart.

“This transaction was a unique opportunity to acquire a substantial, high-quality portfolio in one of Europe’s largest and most important logistics markets,” Mo Barzegar, chief executive and president of Logicor, said in a statement.

“Logicor continues to expand and this latest acquisition by Blackstone comes after notable recent growth for our platform in Germany and Portugal, as well as acquisitions in France and Spain as part of the GE portfolio Blackstone agreed to acquire earlier this month.”

The deal is Logicor’s first since November when the London-based logistics property platform bought a portfolio of logistic properties in the UK from SEGRO, a London-based real estate investment trust (REIT) for £153.3 million. That portfolio included six logistics properties spread over 1,994,886 square feet across the UK including one small regional warehouse located in eastern England.