Acquisition of Light Industrial Park in Essen for European Urban Logistics & Industrial Fund

Savills Investment Management (Savills IM), the international real estate investment manager, has acquired a Light Industrial Park in Essen, in Germany´s Ruhr area, for its European Urban Logistics & Industrial Fund (EULIF). The seller is a joint venture of the Adolf Weber Real Estate and Project Development Company, which realised the inner-city business park in the last two years. Savills IM’s group logistics AuM now totals €6 billion worldwide.

Jochen Boudon, Managing Director of ADOLF WEBER West GmbH in Dortmund, says:

“The commercial space was specially designed for urban locations, usable according to demand and expandable at any time. Very good accessibility was also important to us when selecting the site. We are pleased to be able to hand over the property to Savills Investment Management, thank them for the good cooperation during the process and wish them every success with this outstanding project. ADOLF WEBER is, among other things, specialised in the project development of business parks and light industrial real estate and will continue to realise comparable innovative, sustainable projects at promising locations. The investment is the first acquisition for EULIF, which is targeting high-quality urban logistics and light industrial properties in densely populated logistics regions in Europe.”

Tim Ulrich, MRICS, Head of Transaction Management Germany at Savills Investment Management, says:

“The letting market for light industrial space in the Ruhr region has developed very positively in recent years, with many large companies settling here. There is an imbalance between supply and demand due to the limited availability of space, which has led to dynamic rental price development. The development pipeline is limited due to increased financing and construction costs, so almost no space is being developed speculatively. We are very pleased that we were able to secure this high-quality, centrally located, long-term leased property with high third-party usability on behalf of our European Urban Logistics & Industrial Fund.”

Evert Castelein, Investment Director, European Logistics, at Savills Investment Management, adds:

“Savills Investment Management has a strong track record in the European logistics sector. The acquisition in Essen further demonstrates our excellent access to the market, which enables us to identify investments that meet our requirements in terms of quality and location.”

Savills Investment Management was advised on the transaction by Noerr (legal), PWC (tax), Drees & Sommer (technical) and JLL (commercial).