Carlyle Group, the Washington DC-based private equity firm, has acquired a French logistics portfolio for a figure understood to be in the region of $90 million.
The portfolio comprises eight modern logistics units, totaling 1.8 million square feet, which are largely located in Paris and Lyon. The seller was global logistics giant Prologis. Carlyle used capital from a special purpose vehicle, called Carlyle Europe Realty Gallia, which was created specifically for the deal with Prologis.
The transaction marked Carlyle’s first purchase in Europe since 2015, when it hired ex-Blackstone managing director Peter Stoll to run its European real estate business. The firm further bolstered its European team in September last year with the hire of a second Blackstone executive, Marc-Antoine Bouyer, as managing director of European real estate.
A spokesman for Carlyle said the firm was aiming to grow its logistics presence in France, as well as Western Europe, through the acquisition of investments that demonstrate “attractive supply-demand fundamentals”. The firm added that the deal represented the first stage of its plan to assemble a high-yielding French logistics platform.
“Our ambition in the logistics space is one of a number of strategies that Carlyle is currently pursuing in the UK and mainland European real estate market,” added Stoll. “Our priority is to focus on sectors that are driven by demographic trends and/or structural changes to how real estate is owned and used. This investment responds completely to this theme,” he added.
“This acquisition represents a great opportunity to acquire a high-quality portfolio as we look to build a portfolio of European logistics assets that offers a strong income profile with potential capital value uplift,” said Bouyer.
Carlyle was advised on the deal by DLA Piper, Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier, PWC, and Attal & Associés.
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