Kajima Properties Europe and Savills Investment Management have launched a new strategic partnership with the completion of the acquisition of Panattoni Europe’s interest in the 144,880 sqm Łódź City VI logistics park in Central Poland.
The partnership between Kajima and Savills Investment Management (Savills IM) will continue to target increasing investor appetite from Asia for acquisitions in the European logistics sector. The deal also marks a renewed commitment by Kajima to grow its logistics assets under management in the region.
The rapid growth of e-commerce, accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, has fuelled continued demand for logistics and distribution hubs across Europe. In Poland specifically, warehouse assets worth €1.46 billion were exchanged in Q1 2020, close to the total for all of 2019, which hit €1.48 billion. According to JLL, Asian capital sources accounted for approximately a third of 2019 transaction market volumes.
The deal marks a continuation of the successful development and investment activity by Kajima in Europe’s logistics sector, following the sale in January 2020 of two industrial assets in Komorniki, Poznań, providing 87,000 sqm of logistics accommodation as part of a 280,000 sqm portfolio also acquired by clients of Savills IM. Beyond Poland, Kajima also announced its first warehousing and logistics park within Spain in May this year, and have recently acquired a logistics site in Rotterdam.
Dentons advised Kajima; DLA Piper and Savills advised Savills IM; and Greenberg Traurig advised Panattoni.
John Harcourt, Managing Director, Kajima Properties Europe, said: “Whilst Kajima has been an active investor in European logistics development for over four years now, we are now actively looking to complement this with a longer-term strategy of identifying and acquiring a diversified range of logistics assets in partnership with the growing appetite of Asian investors seeking the stable returns offered by the sector and region. We have already identified a number of target opportunities with which to grow this side of the business.”
Jon Crossfield, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Savills IM, added: "We are delighted to enter into a partnership with Kajima in Europe and look forward to growing our AuM together. The combination of our own track record in the sector in Europe, with now over €4 billion under management, plus Kajima’s ability to develop high quality assets across CEE and Western Europe, offers a really exciting opportunity for our clients."
