Mirastar, KKR Real Estate’s industrial and logistics platform in Europe, has acquired four UK logistics assets for £160m from TPG and Stoford.
The four newly-built Grade A freehold assets, totaling 370,000 square feet, are located in Harlow, Greater London, and let to low-risk covenants. The assets have strong ESG performance and are recognised with BREEAM “Very Good” ratings across all four buildings.
According to KKR, the UK continues to see sustained rental growth in the logistics sector with ongoing undersupply and strong occupier demand, and the Harlow portfolio is well-situated, capable of being used for national distribution as well as last mile distribution within Greater London.
The transaction is KKR’s second from its pan-European Core+ Real Estate strategy, following the acquisition of four freehold logistics assets totaling 45,000 square meters in the Netherlands in January.
KKR is an active investor in logistics real estate across Europe and as of Q4 2021, KKR Real Estate owns over 1.6 million square metres of logistics assets across Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, and the Netherlands.
Ian Williamson, Managing Director and Head of Core+ Real Estate in Europe at KKR, said: “We’re delighted to announce our first UK acquisition for KKR’s Core+ strategy for Real Estate. High-quality logistics assets are one of the main investment themes for our Core+ strategy in Europe and this marks the second successful transaction in just three months since the platform was launched last year. The combination of protection on the downside and optionality on the upside is compelling.”
Diederik Schol, Principal in KKR’s European Real Estate team added: “We’re pleased to continue growing our industrial logistics portfolio in the UK with the addition of this high-quality portfolio in an important national distribution hub. The portfolio we have acquired contains well-located, high-quality assets with strong ESG credentials, and serves a structurally growing sector where there is an ongoing supply demand imbalance.”
Michiel Celis, Business Unit Partner with TPG Real Estate, said: “We, alongside our partner Stoford, acquired the site in 2018 and successfully developed this prime logistics park on time and on budget. The buildings all have strong ESG credentials and are fully let on long leases to a roster of high-quality tenants, including Amazon and Wincanton. We have been very pleased with the excellent work from our partners at Stoford, and we wish KKR and Mirastar success in the future.”
Ekaterina Avdonina, CEO and Co-founder at Mirastar, said: “We are excited to expand on our investments with KKR. The Harlow Icon Park is a rare modern logistics park within the M25 which was completed in the last two years. This acquisition complements the growing Core+ logistics portfolio”.
Angus Huntley, Director at Stoford, said: “We are very pleased to have completed the successful sale of four highly specified logistics units at the Harlow Icon Park. We and our partners at TPG have significantly invested in repositioning the site since our acquisition in 2018, by demolishing the existing buildings and developing three speculative new units and one pre-let. We have asset managed the scheme throughout to ensure that the site has remained operational for existing tenants.”
