Macquarie enters the Central and Eastern Europe real estate market with €79m portfolio acquisition

An investment vehicle advised by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) has completed a 100% acquisition of a €79m portfolio of logistics and light industrial assets in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The portfolio covers four key locations in these two countries with a strong focus on the Bratislava area and other gateway cities, with one site having direct access to the adjacent airport. The transaction also includes a development component with established permitting in place, allowing for expansion of the existing adjacent sites within a short timeframe.

The assets, developed by international real estate developer HB Reavis to a high standard, with a multinational blue-chip tenant base, are being jointly sold by HB Reavis Group and HB Reavis CE REIF fund.

M7 Real Estate Ltd, the pan-European investor and asset manager, has been appointed as asset manager for the portfolio, JLL has been selected as property manager and JLL Capital Markets teams in Bratislava and Prague advised on the acquisition.

Steven Sewell as Executive Director, Head of Real Estate – EMEA, MIRA commented: “Our current focus is on niche real estate sectors where we see good relative value. The logistics sector in CEE is showing strong fundamentals and remains one of the most interesting property submarkets in Europe. There is a growing importance of the Czech Republic and Slovakia as key European logistics markets and these assets were available at an attractive price level.”

Marian Herman, CFO at HB Reavis said “The successful divestment of this high quality, fully let industrial portfolio to one of the sector’s top international investors reflects not only the quality of the underlying assets but also the success of our asset management strategy. These logistics centres are well-positioned to give the new owners continued upside and this transaction allows us to focus on our core segments of office and retail, while recycling the released capital into new opportunities.”

Sewell added “This investment is a perfect example of our operating model where we partner with best in class local operators and develop close relationships to drive asset performance and operational efficiency.”

MIRA, together with M7, have identified a number of asset management initiatives across the portfolio including leasing of space, lease re-gears and extensions as well as potential development opportunities on adjacent land at two of the assets.

MIRA has announced a significant expansion of its global real estate platform in recent months with key appointments in Europe, USA, India and Hong Kong. MIRA Real Estate has €3.8bn AuM (as at 31 March 2016) with a portfolio of c. 300 retail, commercial, residential and industrial properties in Australia, China, Korea, Mexico and New Zealand.

Other than Macquarie Bank Limited (MBL), any Macquarie Group entity noted on this page is not an authorised deposit-taking institution for the purposes of the Banking Act 1959 Commonwealth of Australia). That entity's obligations do not represent deposits or other liabilities of MBL. MBL does not guarantee or otherwise provide assurance in respect of the obligations of that entity, unless noted otherwise.

About HB Reavis Group

HB Reavis is an international real estate developer founded in 1993 in Bratislava, Slovakia. It operates in the United Kingdom, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Turkey. The operations have so far yielded a total of 9.88 million sq ft of modern offices, shopping and entertainment spaces in addition to logistics facilities. Over 10 million sq ft of developments are in the planning, permit or construction stages. HB Reavis relies on a fully integrated business model covering development, construction, property and investment management. The group has total assets of £1.6 billion, with a net asset value of almost £920 million. With more than 500 professionals, HB Reavis is a global market leader in international commercial real estate. HB Reavis’ strong market position has been recognised through numerous awards, such as the UK Property Award "Best Office Architecture London 2015" for 33 Central and the CEE Quality Award for "Developer of the Year in CEE, 2015".

For more information, please visit http://www.hbreavis.com.

About JLL

JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a professional services and investment management firm offering specialized real estate services to clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying and investing in real estate. A Fortune 500 company with annual fee revenue of $5.2 billion and gross revenue of $6.0 billion, JLL has more than 280 corporate offices, operates in more than 80 countries and has a global workforce of more than 60,000. On behalf of its clients, the firm provides management and real estate outsourcing services for a property portfolio of 4.0 billion square feet, or 372 million square meters, and completed $138 billion in sales, acquisitions and finance transactions in 2015. Its investment management business, LaSalle Investment Management, has $58.3 billion of real estate assets under management. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated.

JLL Slovakia was established in 2006. Currently, it provides services in the field of investment consultancy (capital markets), valuation, research, land investment and development, leasing of office (office agency), industrial (industrial agency), residential (residential agency) and retail space as well as the services in the field of property and project management.

For further information, visit www.jll.sk.

About M7 Real Estate

M7 Real Estate Ltd is a pan-European investor and asset manager specialised in multi-let real estate, with a team of over 100 staff operating a platform in the UK, Croatia, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Portugal, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Established in 2009 and wholly owned by its senior managers, M7 already manages a portfolio of c.475 assets comprising 35 million sq ft with a capital value in excess of €1.8 billion. Its joint venture partners include Oaktree Capital Management, Starwood Capital, H.I.G Capital, Goldman Sachs International and M&G Investments.

Additional information about M7 can be found at www.m7re.co.uk.