Warburg-HIH Invest Acquires Logistics Property Development Near Hamburg for Open-Ended Institutional Fund

• Fully occupied logistics asset with 19,250 square metres of gross lettable area



• Blue-chip tenant, Boeing Distribution Services, signed long-term lease



• New-build property is being developed by Verdion



• Property to be certified under the “Gold” DGNB standard

Hamburg, 25 March 2021 – Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate (“Warburg-HIH Invest”) just acquired a logistics property located in Henstedt-Ulzburg on behalf of its “Warburg-HIH Logistik Deutschland Invest” open-ended special AIF. It was sold by the municipality of Henstedt-Ulzburg. Verdion is developing the property in close collaboration with Warburg-HIH Invest. The plot, which extends over 33,350 square metres, provides a gross lettable area of around 19,250 square metres and 153 car parking spots. The lettable area total breaks down into around 15,350 square metres of warehouse and logistics space, and around 3,250 square metres of office space. In Boeing Distribution Services, Warburg-HIH Invest found a long-term tenant who will operate its European distribution centre for the maintenance and repair business here, employing around 190 staff. The development is scheduled for completion by the first quarter of 2022. It is planned to have the building certified under the “Gold” sustainability standard of the DGNB German Sustainable Building Council. The transaction took the form of an asset deal. It was agreed not to disclose the selling price.

The “Warburg-HIH Deutschland Logistik Invest” acquires new high-spec logistics warehouses with great alternative use potential in Germany. The target volume of the investment fund is to be 500 million euros. The total equity in the amount of 275 million euros has already been fully collected from the institutional investors.

Lars Bothe, Senior Transaction Manager Germany at Warburg-HIH Invest, commented: “The acquisition of this asset helps us achieve an even broader portfolio diversification in terms of geography and tenant-mix. At the same time, we are further expanding the ‘Core’ orientation of the fund with this property, which is occupied on a long-term lease.”

Andreas Strey, Co-Head of Fund Management and Head of Logistics at Warburg-HIH Invest, added: “With its long lease term of well over ten years, the acquired asset will generate a secure continuous cash flow for the fund. Given the very strong demand for logistics real estate, we are quite glad we succeeded in securing this attractive investment for the fund by acquiring it in the early stage of development.”

The long-term tenant, Boeing Distribution Services, is one of the world’s leading providers of aerospace fasteners and consumables as well as of customer-service warehouse management solutions. Its 50 branch locations across the globe are staffed by around 2,400 employees.

The logistics property is located in the immediate vicinity of the A7 motorway. Hamburg’s airport is 20 minutes away by car, while it takes 35 minutes to get to the central railway station and 40 minutes to the port. Hamburg counts among the top logistics regions in Germany and is a major global aircraft industry hub.

The legal and tax due diligences on the buyer side were carried out by Ashurst LLP in Frankfurt am Main. The technical due diligence and the ESG due diligence were conducted by ES EnviroSustain. CBRE acted as broker.

“The acquisition of this asset helps us achieve an even broader portfolio diversification in terms of geography and tenant-mix. At the same time, we are further expanding the ‘Core’ orientation of the fund with this property, which is occupied on a long-term lease.”

Lars Bothe, Senior Transaction Manager Germany

Warburg-HIH Invest

“With its long lease term of well over ten years, the acquired asset will generate a secure continuous cash flow for the fund. Given the very strong demand for logistics real estate, we are quite glad we succeeded in securing this attractive investment for the fund by acquiring it in the early stage of development.”

Andreas Strey, Fund Manager

Warburg-HIH Invest