ARA Europe, the European property arm of Asia-Pacific real assets fund manager ESR, has acquired a logistics campus in France to form part of a seed portfolio for its latest value-add fund.
The urban logistics complex, on the outskirts of Rouen, was acquired for ARA Europe Active Real Estate Fund V, which targets last-mile distribution warehouses within the French logistics corridor.
The campus includes four existing buildings totalling 28,000sqm, which are 96% let, and 5,000sqm of logistics space to be developed on brownfield sites via two forward-funding schemes.
The latest deal expands the fund鈥檚 seed portfolio, which already includes three assets.
Quentin Kerrault, head of investment at ARA Europe, said: 鈥淰acancy rates in the logistics sector in France are extremely low, standing at 4.7% in Q4 2023, according to CBRE, and acquiring this complex in a major industrial cluster adjacent to Rouen鈥檚 city centre provides us with strategic buildings, well located for urban logistics.
鈥淒emand, boosted by e-commerce, and lack of supply, make a compelling investment case for such assets. We continue to seek similar opportunities with excellent fundamentals and value creation potential.鈥�
In France, ARA Europe鈥檚 logistics portfolio now comprises a dozen buildings, totalling more than 250,000sqm.
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