Starwood JV in €75m European portfolio deal

The Greenwich, Connecticut-based firm and its local operating partner M7 Real Estate have completed the purchase of 17 properties in Germany and the Netherlands.

Starwood Capital, the Greenwich, Connecticut-based fund manager, and London-based industrial property firm M7 Real Estate, in a joint venture have bought 17 properties in Germany and the Netherlands for a total of €74.5 million.

The joint venture, named MStar Europe, is funded from Starwood Global Opportunity Fund X and is now nearly two-thirds of the way towards its investment target, according to Adam Shah, senior vice president at Starwood.

“We are actively looking for fresh investment opportunities in the light industrial, multi-let property space in the main western European markets so that MStar Europe will be fully invested later this year,” added David Ebbrell, head of transactions at M7 Real Estate. “We have almost €40 million of transactions under offer already, which we will be looking to complete in the first quarter.”

MStar purchased nine light industrial properties in Germany in the vicinity of Cologne, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Stuttgart, with two more transactions pending completion, while the six Dutch assets acquired are located close to Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht. The assets comprise a total of approximately 1,950,000 square feet of lettable space occupied by 79 tenants.

Established in April 2014 with a target of assembling a portfolio in excess of €500 million, MStar Europe is the second joint venture between M7 and Starwood. It has purchased 36 assets directly for €203 million and bought out the listed Tamar European Industrial Fund with an offer valuing the assets at around €130 million.

The joint venture’s overall portfolio consists of 72 assets in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, with approximately 8,230,000 square feet of space.