This Week's London Deal Sheet: Greykite Creates €800M Logistics Platform
Greykite European Real Estate Fund and affiliates have created a new €800M European logistics platform called Silverdock, following last year’s 13-asset pan-European portfolio acquisition from Logicor, plus three additional off-market transactions.
The UK add-on portfolio, acquired in three transactions totalling approximately 4M SF across 13 properties, has increased the fund’s presence in “predominantly urban, submarkets, characterised by a critical undersupply of high-quality, well connected logistics space,” the company said.
The UK portfolio will be managed by Canmoor, while Bowery will manage the assets in continental Europe. In total, Silverdock comprises more than 25 primarily single-tenant assets, which are 99% occupied, and Greykite said it plans to expand the platform through acquisitions across continental Europe and the UK.
“The ongoing market dislocation we are seeing across Europe continues to restrict the pool of capital with the firepower and conviction to invest, and this relative hiatus, coupled with our ability to identify, and then successfully facilitate transactions with pockets of motivated sellers, has enabled us to capture the next wave of logistics demand,” Greykite CEO Michael Abel said in a statement.
DEALS
L&G is to acquire a 75% stake in global real estate investor Proprium in a move designed to accelerate L&G’s private markets growth ambitions, the company said, with a target to grow this to £85B in assets under management by 2028.
Founded in 2013, Proprium is a spinout of the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Special Situations team, which focuses on investing in “real estate operating companies with scalable investment themes and experienced management teams.”
Proprium is active across the residential, student accommodation, hospitality and logistics sectors, with past investments including stakes in Motel One. Proprium’s investments include A&O Hostels in Germany, Admiral Taverns in the UK, and Avid in Australia.
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Leonardo Hotels has acquired the four-star Leonardo Hotel Heathrow, which it has operated under a lease since 2015. It has now completed the purchase of landlord Aprirose’s interest, marking the group’s fourth leasehold buyback in less than a year, following similar acquisitions of the Leonardo Hotel Liverpool, Derby and Newcastle Gateshead.
Purpose-built and refurbished in 2019-2020, the Leonardo Hotel Heathrow has 230 bedrooms, 14 meeting and conference rooms, a bar and a 140-cover restaurant.
FINANCE
Maslow Capital has completed a £65M development facility with Torsion Developments to deliver the Flax Place build-to-rent scheme in Leeds. The project will create 300 apartments on a vacant brownfield site to the east of the city centre.
Designed by Day Architecture, Flax Place comprises two towers of nine and 14 storeys, linked by a shared podium. Amenities will include communal lounges and coworking areas, cycle storage and on-site leisure facilities. Construction began in the fourth quarter and is scheduled for practical completion in April 2027.
The development will be forward-sold to Starlight Investments, and the transaction marks Maslow Capital’s third collaboration with Torsion Developments in Leeds. Previous support includes a £57M facility for a nearby 367-unit BTR development and a £54.4M loan supporting a CityLife-Torsion joint venture for a BTR residential scheme.
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Investec Bank has provided Signal Capital Partners with a £54.6M club facility secured on two former offices that Signal has converted into build-to-rent assets. The loan has been arranged in partnership with Allied Irish Bank.
Sutton Park House in Sutton, south-east London, occupies a town centre location, adjacent to the train station, and comprises 149 BTR units. Meanwhile, in Aylesbury, empty office space has been converted into 161 apartments.
DEVELOPMENT
Panattoni has begun construction of a 915K SF speculative logistics facility at Panattoni Park Swindon, the largest project of its kind ever undertaken in the UK. It follows the letting of Panattoni’s previous development, an 885K SF unit at Avonmouth.
Situated on the 360-acre site of the former Honda manufacturing plant, Panattoni Park Swindon is set to create 7.2M SF, and the first phase includes the newly launched 915K SF unit alongside a second 545K SF facility already under construction.
This phase represents a £300M investment, backed by U.S. capital, and total project costs once complete will be circa £900M.
PLANNING
Planning officers at the City of London Corporation are set to approve or have approved multiple planning applications across the Square Mile.
The largest of the schemes will see the retrofit and extension of Brookfield Properties’ Milton Gate at 60 Chiswell Street, which will receive an uplift of 142K SF.
A second office retrofit will see an extension and retrofit of the building at 60 Queen Victoria Street, with a total of 180K SF refurbished upon completion, while at 25 Monument Street, the redevelopment of Faryners House will provide 144K SF of office space alongside a new cultural and visitor centre.
In addition, the City will approve a coliving development at 150 Minories. Through conversion and extension of a former office space, the development will provide 277 new coliving units and a new public route through the site from Minories to Vine Street, where a new public pocket park will be created.
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Greencore Homes has acquired a site in Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire, from the Diocese of Oxford, with outline planning permission to build 75 new homes, of which 30% will be affordable housing, including a “significant allocation” of social rented homes.
Greencore was selected in part due to its commitment to delivering better-than-net-zero homes through the materials used in its hemp-filled timber panels, which are assembled off-site.
Greencore has also gained planning permissions for Milton Heights and Launton schemes totalling more than 100 homes.
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Oxford Properties and M7 Real Estate have secured approval for the planned redevelopment of Beckton Gateway Retail Park in East London into a Grade A industrial and logistics hub from the London Borough of Newham.
Beckton Gateway will include 324K SF of Grade-A, flexible warehousing space and ancillary offices across three new buildings, while three drive-thru retail units operated by McDonald's, KFC and Starbucks will be retained.
PEOPLE
As the company expands its focus beyond development and into global investment management, from 1 September, Marian Herman will step into the role of CEO at Edge, following a transition period that began in May.
Herman was previously group CEO of HB Reavis and is to work with founder and CEO Coen van Oostrom as he moves into a new role as executive chair.
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Knight Frank has appointed Nick Braybrook as head of global capital markets, where he will be responsible for coordinating more than 250 capital markets advisers around the world.
While continuing to lead the London capital markets and development team, Braybrook will collaborate with the capital markets heads based in six regions around the world, as well as Knight Frank Capital Advisory.
