Le mie ricette per la real estate communityHines, the international real estate firm, has acquired 11 logistics assets spanning 350,000 square metres across France on behalf of its Hines European Value Fund 2 (HEVF 2), from Auchan, the French multinational retail group.
The acquisition, which is a sale and leaseback transaction, marks the first investment in France by HEVF 2, with Auchan, one of France’s leading grocery retailers and distributors, remaining the long-term tenant across the entire portfolio. The 11 assets are located in Paris, Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Lyon, Nîmes, Strasbourg, Tours and two sites apiece in the Amiens and Lille regions respectively. Hines France will manage the assets.
The HEVF series invests across the major real estate sectors. HEVF 1 focused on core-plus and value add office investments and HEVF 2 is most active in the logistics and living space. With this acquisition, logistics is one of the larger sectoral allocations of the fund.
Hines France continues to broaden its portfolio with greater focus on the logistics and living sectors. This latest transaction marks further diversification into the logistics sector. The French logistics market is expected to benefit from strong fundamentals with rising demand, partly driven by accelerated trends in changing consumer behaviour, combined with constrained supply in the context of demanding planning and permitting rules.
HEVF 2’s capital raising is concluding with successful speed of deployment. In parallel, with this investment, the Fund will be almost 75% allocated to 9 investments across France, Italy, Germany, UK, the Netherlands and Spain with several other investments also in exclusivity.
Source : Hines
