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Logistics
February 2020 • perenews.com

                 Delivering the goods to investors
Logistics - Delivering the goods to investors - cloudfront.net
Logistics - Delivering the goods to investors - cloudfront.net
Contents

How to contact us

Senior Editor, Real Estate
Jonathan Brasse
jonathan.b@peimedia.com,
+44 20 7566 4278
Editor
Evelyn Lee
evelyn.l@peimedia.com, +44 20 3640 7511
                                                  Logistics
Senior Special Projects Editor
Graeme Kerr                                       ISSN 1558–7177 • FEBRUARY 2020
graeme.k@peimedia.com, +44 20 3862 7491
Special Projects Editor
Helen Lewer
helen.l@peimedia.com, +44 20 7566 5478
Senior Reporters                                  Insight                                        Europe’s e-commerce boom has only
Arshiya Khullar                                                                                  just begun Panattoni Europe’s CEO

                                                  2
akhullar@peimedia.com, +852 2153 3149
Kyle Campbell
                                                                                                 Robert Dobrzycki on how the trend will
kyle.c@peimedia.com, +1 646 545 4428                                                             create new development opportunities
Reporters                                         Fast themes Highlights from the report         in established markets                 34
Lisa Fu
lisa.f@peimedia.com, +1 212 937 0384                                                             Get smarter with logistics Allianz Real
Christie Ou                                       EDITOR’S LETTER                            5   Estate’s Kari Pitkin on finding value  38
christie.o@peimedia.com, +852 2153 3247
Contributors
                                                                                                 Germany still provides opportunities
Mark Cooper, James Linacre, Jesse Koppi,                                                         for smart investors GARBE Industrial
Michelle Phillips, Stuart Watson                  Analysis                                       Real Estate’s CEO Christopher Garbe

                                                  6
Managing Editor, Production: Mike Simlett                                                        on how the country’s logistics’ market
Head of Production: Greg Russell                                                                 can generate attractive returns        39
Production Editors: Daniel Blackburn,
Adam Koppeser, Karl Shmavonian                                                                   Last touch, but out of reach? Investor
Copy Editor: Eric Fish, Nicholas Manderson
                                                  Macro trends will differentiate returns        appetite for last-mile is at a peak, but
Art Director: Mike Scorer
                                                  in US industrial sector, says Realterm’s       assets are hard to find                  42
                                                  director of research Nathan Kane
Head of Design: Miriam Vysna                                                                     Following the occupier’s lead
Senior Designer: Lee Southey                      US industrial enters 2020 on a positive        Oxenwood Real Estate co-founders
Designer: Denise Berjak                           note, observes JLL’s Peter Kroner     9        Jeremy Bishop and Stewart Little
Head of Marketing Solutions, Real Assets Group:   Logistics triumphant year RCA’s Jim            explain why they are tracking tenant
Nick Hayes
nick.h@peimedia.com, +44 20 7566 5448             Costello on logistics deal data     10         demand into urban logistics and
Marketing Solutions Manager:                      Consumer proximity offers a sound              continental European markets            44
Annie Liu                                         basis for investing Assets in densely          How European logistics bounced back
annie.l@peimedia.com, + 852 2153 3843
                                                  populated areas should offer the most          CBRE’s Mark Cartlich casts an eye over
Subscriptions and reprints
subscriptions@peimedia.com                        resilient value and growth potential,          the region’s logistics recovery        47
Customer Service                                  say Crow Holdings’ Ben Doherty and             Priming the Asia-Pacific logistics market
customerservices@peimedia.com                     Ken Valach                            12       ESR co-founders Jeffrey Shen and Stuart
Editorial Director: Philip Borel
                                                  A year in logistics PERE’s top headlines       Gibson on how the region’s growth story
Director, Digital Product Development:
Amanda Janis                                      from 2019                              16      means developers are hard-pressed to
Director of Research and Analytics: Dan Gunner    ‘Setting up an institutional business          meet investor appetite                48
Managing Director, Americas: Colm Gilmore         is the main target’ Mileway CEO                Stars align for India logistics Why
Managing Director, Asia: Chris Petersen           Emmanuel Van der Stichele sets the             some of the world’s largest investors
Chief Commercial Officer: Paul McLean             agenda in his first interview with PERE 18     are flocking to the market              51
Chief Executive: Tim McLoughlin                   Mastering the ‘last-hour’ market Why           Going global with a personal touch
                                                  location planning matters to operators 24      Mapletree Logistics’ Chua Tiow Chye
                                                  Age of the mega-shed European                  on why logistics property is a key part
                                                  distribution hubs are getting larger, more     of the company’s growth as it expands
For subscription information visit                sophisticated and costlier. LCP’s James        globally                                54
perenews.com                                      Markby and Kristof Verstraeten, and
                                                  Invesco Real Estate’s Tom Emson                Data Room A stellar 2018 left a lot for
                                                  discuss the implications                28     2019 to live up to                      58
                                                  Logistics’ new era DHL’s Matthew               Points of view Experts share their
                                                  Wright gives an occupier’s take        32      perspectives on logistics               60

                                                                                                           February 2020     •    Logistics 1
Logistics - Delivering the goods to investors - cloudfront.net
Five fast themes From e-commerce                                                              stores… but warehousing fulfillment
                                                                                               centers are seeing respectable growth in
 to the environment, the priorities in                                                         demand,” says Chua Tiow Chye, deputy
                                                                                               group CEO of Mapletree Investments.
 logistics are changing rapidly                                                                   Dobrzycki is so confident that
                                                                                               e-commerce growth will continue to lead

L
                                                                                               to increased consumption that he argues
               ogistics is changing beyond          It is also worth investing in technology   now is the time to expand into new
               all previous recognition,         to keep properties at the cutting edge.       locations, regardless of how late in the
               writes James Linacre.             There is an increased concern around          real estate cycle we are.
               Online shopping – with its        obsolescence, so if operators want
               ever-dwindling patience for
               lengthy delivery times – really
 has turned the ugly duckling into the
                                                 to continue delivering the goods to
                                                 investors, they will have to deliver the
                                                 goods to customers in a rapidly changing
                                                                                               2   Asia is on
                                                                                                   the rise
                                                                                               One target for that expansion is Asia.
 swan.                                           market. Here are five trends underlining      Stuart Gibson, co-founder at ESR, sees “a
    The retail sector once lorded over           logistics’ transformation.                    huge wall of capital” looking to get into
 logistics, but industrial now attracts                                                        Asian logistics. “There is an increasingly
 a greater share of global investment
 than retail does and continues to trend
 upward. As the performance of the sector
                                                 1   E-commerce gives logistics
                                                     a leg up
                                                 The sector is being propelled into the
                                                                                               strong interest from Canadian, European
                                                                                               and Singaporean investors in logistics
                                                                                               property in the region,” he says.
 has improved, so has the perception             limelight by the inexorable rise of online       Japan, China and South Korea are
 of it. Logistics is not being overlooked        shopping. It is e-commerce demand             ESR’s core markets, but the company is
 anymore.                                        that is most responsible for the inversely    also very excited about the potential for
    The role of e-commerce cannot be             shifting fortunes of retail and industrial.   India. Mapletree’s Chua, too, sees India
 overstated, but other trends are just as           This has not gone unnoticed in the         – with its population of 1.37 billion and
 important to keep on top of, not least          market. “Because of the e-commerce            rapidly expanding middle class – as a
 the rise of Asia as an attractive logistics     story [investors] see logistics as probably   prime location to expand into, albeit one
 market. Countries such as China provide         the best real estate asset class right        that is tough to make inroads into.
 obvious opportunities, but India is             now,” says Panattoni Europe CEO Robert           “All the factors which drive logistics
 investing heavily in infrastructure to          Dobrzycki.                                    demand are prevalent in India – favorable
 provide logistics with a platform to               The increased logistics demand comes       demographics, rapidly developing
 prosper.                                        at the expense of retail. Real Capital        e-commerce and organized retail
    Location matters. There is a fine            Analytics figures show retail accounting      channels,” says Craig Duffy, head of
 balancing act between proximity to              for approximately 25 percent of global        fund management at GLP. Government
 customers and rent levels, although             investment a decade ago, when industrial      policy has also been a key enabler for the
 consumers’ expectations of rapid                accounted for around 10 percent. Now,         sector, with the government pledging to
 delivery increasingly push that balance in      industrial has pushed ahead of retail, the    invest $1.4 trillion in new infrastructure
 favor of proximity. Finding suitable sites      former climbing to 16 percent and the         over the next five years.
 in or around the most densely populated         latter dropping to 13 percent.                   The challenge in India is land supply,
 urban areas is not easy but should be              “Many retail shops may be shutting         although the government is making that
 worth it.                                       down or downsizing their physical             easier, too. “The largest component of a

2 PERE    •   February 2020
Logistics - Delivering the goods to investors - cloudfront.net
project is land and securing it can take up      “While we are probably doing a number
to a year. Moreover, you can add another         of projects that are in line with our
12-30 months for a project delivery              business plan, they have turned out even
depending on the size of the warehouse           bigger than we expected.”
and the approvals required,” says Rajesh            It is not all about size. A raft
Jaggi, managing partner at Everstone.            of advanced technological and
                                                 environmental features, which were not

3    The competition for prime
     locations is fierce
Supply is not just an issue in India,
                                                 deemed necessary a few years ago, are
                                                 increasingly being incorporated. That
                                                 makes developments now far more
however. The demand for last-mile                costly to develop, although energy
logistics centers, as consumers expect           efficiency will lead to cheaper operating
ever faster delivery, is astronomical.           costs over the longer term.
   “Investor appetite for last mile is              Global luxury brand group Kering’s
unquestionably the most intense                  decision to take a 15-year lease on a 1.7
expression of appetite for any sub-class         million-square-foot distribution hub in
within the logistics sector,” says Jack Cox,     Italy marked one of last year’s largest
head of EMEA industrial and logistics            logistics pre-lettings. The two-building
capital markets at CBRE. “It is the white        campus is due to be completed early this
heat of the flame and there are good             year and is noteworthy not just for its size,
reasons for that.”                               but also for its environmental credentials.
   Logistics assets in and around major             The buildings will be the first LEED
cities outperform in rental growth and           platinum-certified logistics buildings in the
total return, but land supply is a major         country – and possibly on the continent,
obstacle, with suitable sites scarce and         according to Verstraeten. The buildings
expensive. Densely populated cities also         will be heated and cooled via heat pumps
make for slow journey times.                     using geothermal wells and the entire
   While expensive rents are a concern,          surface of the roof will be used for solar
rent is typically a far smaller cost than fuel   paneling, so it can supply electricity to
for logistics operators. In fact, transport      other local sites. Customers now expect
can account for half of all logistics costs.     far more than just four walls and a roof.
With that in mind, accepting higher rents
for locations that will provide transport
savings is a sensible strategy.
   Analysis by DWS Group and location
                                                 5    The sector continues to
                                                      reach new highs
                                                 Expectations are high for deal volumes,
and customer analytics specialist CACI           too, which have set new records. After
shows how investors can have the best            a mammoth year in 2018, activity for
of both worlds – positioning to take             the first three quarters of 2019 matched
advantage of high spend potential                the corresponding months of the year
catchment areas while also avoiding the          before. While Q4 figures have not been
priciest rent locations.                         finalized, the sum of what has been
   “If you can get a warehouse in a              recorded as closed plus all projects
location where you are making                    currently under contract would push
big savings on transport, you                           activity for 2019 ahead of the pace
can afford to pay a much higher                         set in 2018, notes Real Capital
rent. That is important because it                     Analytics senior vice-president Jim
means that the values for logistics                 Costello.
use will compete with other uses in                   Blackstone was a major deal player
those locations,” says Marcus de                       once again. A pair of Blackstone
Minckwitz, director at Savills.                            entities bought portfolios of
                                                             assets from GLP for a total price

4  You’re going to
   need a bigger, greener
shed
                                                            of $18.7 billion. “These two
                                                        deals may represent somewhere
                                                 between 9 and 13 percent of global
“The trend in the market is for super-           industrial investment activity for 2019
large, super-complicated developments,”          when all the figures for the year are
says LCP co-founder Kristof Verstraeten.         finalized,” says Costello. n

                                                            February 2020      •   Logistics 3
Logistics - Delivering the goods to investors - cloudfront.net
Insight

 Editor’s letter

 Going the last mile                                                                                          New York
                                                                                                        130 West 42nd Street
                                                                                                              Suite 450

 for logistics
                                                                                                              New York
                                                                                                              NY 10036
                                                                                                         T: +1 212 633 1919

                                                                                                              London
                                                                                                          100 Wood Street
                                                                                                              London
                                                                                                             EC2V 7AN
                                                                                                        T: +44 20 7566 5444
                         Helen Lewer                                                                        Hong Kong
                         helen.l@peimedia.com                                                          19F On Hing Building
                                                                                                     1 On Hing Terrace Central
                                                                                                            Hong Kong
                                                                                                        T: +852 2153 3240

                                                                                                               PERE

 A
          new decade is a perfect time to reflect on recent years gone by, take stock of           Published 10 times a year by
                                                                                                 PEI Media. To find out more about
          progress and ponder the path ahead. Members of the private real estate investment        PEI Media visit thisisPEI.com
          fraternity doubtless will be doing just that – contemplating where to place their
                                                                                                          © PEI Media 2020
 bets in 2020 and beyond. Those not yet bought into logistics, might do well to give it
 some serious thought. For this is a sector undergoing rapid change. And, as we know, with       No statement in this magazine is to
 change often comes opportunities for investors.                                                 be construed as a recommendation
                                                                                                    to buy or sell securities. Neither
     Logistics’ narrative is no longer one of big, soulless warehouses in the back of beyond       this publication nor any part of it
 – this is a sector diversifying and being shaped by the new trends that define the times        may be reproduced or transmitted
 we live in. And its appeal to institutional                                                          in any form or by any means,
                                                                                                 electronic or mechanical, including
 money is growing at pace. Real Capital                                                               photocopying, recording, or
 Analytics predicts that global logistics deal    “ A boom in                                        by any information storage or
                                                                                                  retrieval system, without the prior
 volume for 2019 will exceed $160 billion,
 once all Q4 data is in. If so, it will be a      urban logistics – the                                permission of the publisher.
                                                                                                       Whilst every effort has been
                                                                                                   made to ensure its accuracy, the
 record level for the sector. So, what is the
 fuel powering logistics’ performance? In
                                                  last-mile phenomenon                            publisher and contributors accept
                                                                                                  no responsibility for the accuracy
 one word: e-commerce.                            – is underway ”                                   of the content in this magazine.
                                                                                                     Readers should also be aware
     The ever-growing penchant for
                                                                                                     that external contributors may
 shopping online surely takes credit for                                                             represent firms that may have
 much of logistics’ success story in the past couple of years. Retailers need more warehouse       an interest in companies and/or
                                                                                                  their securities mentioned in their
 space to store goods. Further, with ever-quicker delivery times expected, occupiers                      contributions herein.
 require facilities located closer to consumers. A boom in urban logistics – the last-mile
 phenomenon – is underway. And institutional capital can see a pot of gold; last-mile               Cancellation policy You can
                                                                                                   cancel your subscription at any
 logistics is primed to be a source of long-term growth and value-add. Blackstone’s new          time during the first three months
 venture, Mileway, profiled in this report, is perhaps the clearest example yet of an industry       of subscribing and you will
 heavyweight positioning itself to take advantage.                                                 receive a refund of 70 percent
                                                                                                   of the total annual subscription
     The last word on the matter is best left to one of the experts lending their insight to         fee. Thereafter, no refund is
 this report: “There is no better real estate asset class to be in right now than logistics      available. Any cancellation request
                                                                                                    needs to be sent in writing to
 because of the momentum provided by e-commerce.” A message you will find repeated                 the subscriptions departments
 strongly across the pages within.                                                               (subscriptionenquiries@peimedia.
                                                                                                    com) in either our London or
                                                                                                           New York offices.
    Enjoy the report,
                                                                                                 Printed by Stephens & George Ltd
                                                                                                     stephensandgeorge.co.uk

 Helen Lewer

4 PERE    •   February 2020
Logistics - Delivering the goods to investors - cloudfront.net
PAN EUROPEAN PLATFORM
                9,800,000 sqft
         assets under management
                11,800,000 sqft
       short term development pipeline
                       &
              offices in 7 countries

Development. Asset Management. Property Management.

           www.logisticscapitalpartners.com
Logistics - Delivering the goods to investors - cloudfront.net
Analysis

 E X P E R T                                          C O M M E N T A R Y

    As industrial increasingly becomes a preferred property class, investors are paying
   ever-higher prices. But that may limit the potential for continued outperformance,
                 explains Realterm’s director of research, Nathan Kane

        Macro trends will differentiate
      returns in the US industrial sector
 Post-global financial crisis, operating fun-                                                    been in a record-length expansion phase.
                                                                  SPONSOR
 damentals in the industrial sector have been                                                    This growth has fueled the need for indus-
                                                                REALTERM
 exceptionally attractive. A half-decade of                                                      trial properties, especially warehouse space,
 record-level demand growth for industrial                                                       with US warehouse occupancy 1.8 billion
 space, combined with vacancy rates as low      lation coefficient between GDP growth            square feet higher at the end of 2019 than
 as they have been in twenty years, have led    and industrial net absorption lagged by six      in 2009.
 to several years of near double-digit rent     months is 0.88. GDP includes many drivers
 growth.                                        of demand for warehouse space (primarily         Tricky conditions
     Today’s underwriting in many cases         retail sales and global trade) and general in-   Despite the length of the current expan-
 incorporates an expectation that current       dustrial space (manufacturing output, con-       sion, economic growth was weaker in 2019
 conditions persist. Notwithstanding this op-   struction and equipment investment). Since       than in the previous two years. A significant
 timism, a supply response has substantially    the end of the GFC, the US economy has           corporate tax cut fueled healthy economic
 eroded overall rent gains across the sector                                                     growth in 2017 and 2018, but the impact

                                                            15%
 in most previous market cycles. As the cur-                                                     of that fiscal action was muted in 2019. In
 rent cycle matures, proper asset selection                                                      addition, conflicts with US trading partners,
 becomes critically important to generating                                                      especially China, resulted in weaker import
 higher returns in the industrial property                                                       growth and an actual decline in exports in
 sector going forward.                                                                           2019.
                                                    Growth of e-commerce annually in
     Historically, the best predictor of user      the last decade, according to the US              The impact of weaker tradeflows has
 demand for industrial space has been GDP                  Bureau of the Census                  been felt through the supply chain across
 growth. Over a 20-year period, the corre-                                                       most major transportation modes. Year-to-

6 PERE    •   February 2020
Logistics - Delivering the goods to investors - cloudfront.net
Analysis

date container volume through November
                                                 GDP is closely correlated with industrial demand, and both appear to be in a period of
2019 at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long        deceleration
Beach was 8.2 percent lower than a year ago.
US rail container volume in the same period            GDP growth (%)                                            Net absorption (m sq ft)
                                                   3                                                                                          300
was down 3.8 percent. Overall trucking vol-
ume was mostly unchanged from the previ-
ous year, but some long-distance truckload         2                                                                                          200
carriers have struggled because of weaker
revenues against already thin profit margins.      1                                                                                          100
    Economic uncertainty and increasing
barriers to trade have led many logistics ten-
                                                   0                                                                                          0
ants to pause leasing decisions until more             2009    2010    2011   2012    2013     2014   2015   2016   2017    2018       2019
clarity over the direction of the global econ-                                                                                          (F)
                                                 Sources: US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Costar, Realterm
omy emerges. Consequent to this pause,
demand growth for industrial space appears
to be decelerating. CoStar reports that af-      E-commerce boom is fueling demand for industrial space
ter topping 230 million square feet annually
between 2014 and 2018, warehouse net ab-               E-commerce of total retail sales (%)                     Actual          Forecast
sorption was about half this level in 2019.       40
    While growth in demand for industrial         30
space is slowing, the pace of construction
is accelerating. According to CoStar, ware-       20
house inventory under construction totaled
                                                  10
265 million square feet at the end of 2018.
By the end of 2019, that level had risen to        0
                                                   2008           2013         2018           2024      2029         2034          2039
295 million. This growing oversupply and
                                                                               2019
weakening demand will cause the vacancy
rate to continue to rise from the record low     Sources: US Bureau of the Census, Forrester Research
of 4.4 percent recorded at the end of 2018.
There is little reason to expect any sudden
                                                 E-commerce is buoying retail sales
collapse in demand or major increase in
vacancy, but a rising vacancy rate will like-          10-year CAGR (%)
                                                  20
ly mean weaker rent growth going forward
than the annual pace above 5 percent ob-
                                                  15
served over the past five years.
                                                  10
E-commerce propelling industrial
property demand                                    5
Nevertheless, there are several macroeco-
nomic trends that will help to mitigate the        0
                                                               Retail sales              Non e-commerce              E-commerce
impact of an economic slowdown on the in-
dustrial sector. The largest of these trends     Source: US Bureau of the Census
is the rate of e-commerce growth as a per-
centage of total retail sales. The US Census     Rent volatility is higher in supply unconstrained areas (%)
Bureau reports that around 11 percent of
                                                                                               Supply constrained           Unconstrained
retail sales in 2019 were conducted online,
up from 5 percent in 2012. E-commerce             50
has grown by 15.3 percent annually over the       40
past decade. Furthermore, it has accounted        30
for almost all inflation-adjusted growth in
                                                  20
the retail sector since 2000.
    In response to this trend, retailers have     10
been expanding their supply chains to serve        0
the direct-to-consumer segment of the mar-
                                                 -10
ket in addition to bricks-and-mortar retail                     Rent decline from peak                  Rent increase from trough
centers. The additional warehouse space re-
quired to serve the online consumer market       Sources: Costar, Realterm

contributed to the record absorption in pre-

                                                                                                               February 2020       •    Logistics 7
Logistics - Delivering the goods to investors - cloudfront.net
Analysis

 vious years, and it has partially offset weak-                            rections, with rents declining by at least 10
 ening demand in 2019 from an economic
 slowdown.
                                                  “Proper asset            percent in the past two recessions. There is
                                                                           also a disparity in rent performance between
     The impact of these cyclical and struc-
 tural trends will have a disparate impact on
                                                  selection will become    supply-constrained and unconstrained sub-
                                                                           markets in the nations five largest real es-
 industrial properties. The industrial sector
 is quite heterogeneous. While warehouse
                                                  critically important     tate markets – Greater New York, southern
                                                                           California, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth and
 properties comprise approximately 80 per-
 cent of value in the sector (and are them-
                                                  to generating higher     Atlanta – through the last recession and re-
                                                                           covery.
 selves highly varied), there are other impor-
 tant sub-types, including light industrial,
                                                  returns in the               Infill industrial properties, which include
                                                                           HFT properties, are less exposed to the risk
 flex, manufacturing and high flow-through
 (HFT) logistics uses. Looking forward,
                                                  industrial property      of supply growth eroding rent gains. Be-
                                                                           cause they generate considerable noise and
 e-commerce will play a crucial role in de-
 termining return outperformance of the
                                                  sector going forward”    pollution, HFT properties are often difficult
                                                                           to entitle for new development. Moreover,
 property subtypes within the industrial real                              they do not generate as many jobs as tradi-
 estate sector. Realterm believes that high                                tional warehouses. For these reasons, mu-
 flow-through properties are uniquely con-                                 nicipalities are often reluctant to approve
 figured to benefit most from this trend.                                  this use for undeveloped parcels. Restrictive
                                                                           zoning, the lack of competing vacant land
 E-commerce driving HFT demand                                             and the expense of redeveloping older in-
 HFT properties are infill industrial proper-                              dustrial properties protect infill HFT own-
 ties best suited to capture growth in space                               ers from new competition and contribute
 demand from e-commerce users, and they                                    to the potential for sustained rent increases
 are almost fully insulated from the poten-                                even through a downturn in the real estate
 tial for supply growth to present new com-                                cycle.
 petition. Optimal characteristics of HFT                                      Tenant demand for these properties also
 properties include a high ratio of loading                                helps to drive rents higher. This point has
 positions relative to the building’s size,                                become especially evident with the prolifer-
 and substantial excess land for staging and                               ation of e-commerce users. Properties used
 equipment parking. These features accom-                                  for e-commerce distribution are optimally
 modate rapid inventory turnover and speed                                 located as close as possible to their consum-
 the movement of freight to the final desti-                               er base to maximize delivery route efficien-
 nation, which is increasingly the consumer.                               cy. Transportation costs account for around
     Warehouse space is often viewed as a                                  two thirds of the total logistics expense,
 commodity by its users; one regional dis-                                 while rent accounts for around 5 percent
 tribution center is little differentiated from                            of this total. Logistics tenants are willing to
 another. As a result, many price-sensitive                                pay proportionally much higher rents for ef-
 tenants may freely move to competing low-                                 ficient facilities near their consumer base in
 er cost properties to avoid paying higher                                 order to keep transportation costs low.
 rents, which becomes a risk to the landlord                                   Sources such as eMarketer and Forrest-
 in an oversupplied market. Rental growth                                  er Research believe e-commerce is likely
 in these buildings is often a function of the                             to total around 30 percent of all retail sales
 cost of new construction, which in turn is a                              by 2040 from a base of 11 percent in 2019.
 function of the cost of available land. While    “E-commerce will         This growth will need to be accommodated
 rising e-commerce sales will help to fuel                                 mostly through the existing stock of HFT
 increasing use of these properties, the pros-    play a crucial role in   properties due to their locational benefits
 pect of new supply growth will constrain fu-                              and efficient building configuration to ac-
 ture potential warehouse rent growth.            determining return       commodate high inventory turnover. The
     In the current real estate cycle, periph-                             acceleration of freight volume through these
 eral locations in major national hubs like       outperformance of        facilities enhances the value of these proper-
 central New Jersey and southern Califor-                                  ties to the transportation user. This higher
 nia’s Inland Empire have attracted an out-       the property subtypes    value to the user is reflected in a willingness
 sized share of new construction. During this                              to pay substantially higher rents. Conse-
 boom, year-on-year rent growth in these          within the industrial    quently, HFT properties are likely to contin-
 areas has at times surpassed 10 percent.                                  ue to benefit from this secular demand shift
 However, in previous downturns, these            real estate sector”      despite otherwise fully priced and slowing
 areas have experienced serious market cor-                                general industrial performance. n

8 PERE    •   February 2020
Analysis

     US industrial enters 2020 on a positive note

                                                     Guest comment by Peter Kroner

        Commanding demand drivers saw annualized national rent growth in 2019
         reach its second-strongest showing in sector history at 6.3%, writes JLL’s
                  manager of the national capital markets research group

T
        he sector has enjoyed 37 consecutive     Foundational shift due to                        in November 2019, according to the Bureau
        quarters of positive net absorption,     e-commerce                                       of Labor Statistics – has driven demand for
        and a sixth consecutive year of over     As retailers realign supply chains and dis-      industrial space and is correlated to rising
220 million square feet of net absorption.       tribution networks to accommodate the            rents and falling vacancy.
Total net absorption lagged new deliveries       growth of direct-to-consumer e-commerce              And newly announced expansions of
at year-end 2019, with vacancy rates rising      operations, new opportunities for industrial     e-commerce operations by grocery retailers
slightly to 5.1 percent. This is not a sign of   investment are emerging. Traditional retail-     seem primed to escalate in the next three
weakening market conditions, but can be at-      ers realize the need to create distinct supply   years as they roll out free service offerings.
tributed to the lack of quality vacant space     chain networks to support this expanding         Grocery retail is one of the final frontiers
left in the market to absorb, which has also     business area, and thus, created a new de-       when it comes to the evolution and retool-
resulted in a decline in the average size of     mand base for the sector. This is important      ing of traditional retail store fulfilment sup-
lease transactions.                              when it comes to newly developed big-box         ply-chain networks. E-commerce orders ac-
    This performance has not gone unno-          space and urban infill space close to dense      count for just 3 percent of all grocery retail
ticed by investors. The total volume for         populations of consumers. E-commerce             sales in the US. Preventing expansion is the
transactions over $5 million surged past $100    growth as a percentage of overall retail         required capital expenditure on climate-con-
billion in 2019 for the first time. Addition-    sales – 5.8 percent in 2013 to 11.2 percent      trolled industrial space. Grocery delivery
ally, a ‘new normal’ in terms of liquidity has                                                    operations have been constrained to large
been emerging since 2013, as sector volume                                                        volume, traditional hub-and-spoke models
growth has averaged 22.5 percent year-over-                                                       of fulfillment to physical retail stores.
year, with volumes in 2019 nearly doubling                                                            If traditional retail trends are any indi-
the 10-year sector average of $54 billion.                                                        cation as to how rapidly investment and
    According to NCREIF, industrial’s an-                                                         supply-chain realignment will occur, this
nualized returns from 2000 to Q3 2019 were                                                        segment of industrial demand may continue
10.3 percent – 20.5 percent and 13.4 per-                                                         to transform in a similar fashion as tradi-
cent higher than the office and multi-hous-                                                       tional retail supply chain networks. Several
ing sectors respectively. Return growth is                                                        grocery retailers have invested in pilot pro-
primarily driven by the strength of e-com-          “Grocery retail is one                        grams for advanced picking facilities and
merce and leasing fundamentals, which are                                                         selective market tests throughout the coun-
driving aggressive rent growth and attrac-          of the final frontiers                        try, with plans for expanding the number
tive cash returns. The healthy return rate                                                        of markets upon testing. In an increasingly
has not come at the expense of stability as         when it comes to                              competitive investor landscape, expanding
the implicit risk of industrial remains lower                                                     investment strategies to align with the foun-
than the other major property sectors, indi-        retooling traditional                         dational shifts that must occur to support
cating the ongoing attractiveness of indus-                                                       the expansion of grocery retail into e-com-
trial investments. The sector has also expe-        retail store fulfillment                      merce operations are expected to be an area
rienced record-setting cap rate compression                                                       of focus for investors comfortable with the
while maintaining the widest risk premium           supply chain networks”                        high capital expenditure and unproven risk
among the other property sectors.                                                                 associated with these types of facilities. n

                                                                                                             February 2020       •   Logistics 9
Analysis

                                     Logistics’
                                 triumphant year
                          As investors shift their focus from retail to industrial,
                    the sector’s deal activity for 2019 looks likely to exceed $160bn –
                      a record level, observes Real Capital Analytics’ Jim Costello

 T
         raditionally, the retail property sector   The Americas continue to dominate deal activity in the global logistics property sector
         captured a larger share of global in-           EMEA                                                                                EMEA
         vestment in income-producing prop-              Asia-Pacific                                                                        Asia-Pacific
 erties than the industrial sector. A decade             Americas                                                                            Americas
 ago, the retail sector represented 25 percent
                                                         Quarterly deal volume ($bn)                                             Average cap rate (%)
 of global activity with the industrial sector      60                                                                                                     9
 capturing only a 10 percent share. The in-
 dustrial sector was viewed as a boring, sta-
 ble market with generic properties, unlike
                                                    40                                                                                                     7
 the retail sector with its glamorous prop-
 erties. Into 2017, however, boring became
 sexy and the industrial landscape steadily
 gained more attention from investors glob-
                                                    20                                                                                                     5
 ally, with the sector pushing above the 10
 percent share of market activity. In the four
 quarters to Q3 2019, industrial represent-
 ed 16 percent of global investment activity         0                                                                                                 3
 versus only a 13 percent share for the retail                 Q3           Q3             Q3            Q3            Q3            Q3             Q3
                                                              2013         2014           2015          2016          2017          2018           2019
 sector.
      This steady climb in investor interest has
                                                    The fortunes of retail and industrial have reversed as investors have shifted their focus in favor of
 translated to record-high deal volumes. Ac-        the latter
 tivity for the first three quarters of 2019 was
                                                         % of global investment
 essentially on par with the trend set through      30
 the first three quarters of 2018. Figures for
 Q4 are not yet finalized, but the sum of what
 has been recorded as closed plus all projects
 under contract would push activity for 2019        20
 ahead of the pace set in 2018.                                                                                                               Industrial

      Blackstone was behind the most signifi-
                                                                                                                                              Retail
 cant industrial deals in 2019. Two different
                                                    10
 entities of the firm bought portfolios of
 assets from GLP for a total price of $18.7
 billion.
      Those two deals may represent some-            0
                                                           Q3            Q3             Q3            Q3            Q3             Q3   Q3
 where between 9 and 13 percent of global                 2008          2010           2012          2014          2016           2018 2019
 industrial investment activity for 2019 when
 all the figures for the year are finalized. n      Source: Real Capital Analytics

10 PERE      •   February 2020
WE LET THE NUMBERS
SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.
Numerous factors need to come together to make        We create tailor-made investment vehicles
an investment into logistics and light industrial     backed by a track record of rapid and successful
real estate a success, but key will always be focus   deployment of funds.
and market expertise.
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garbe-industrial.de
Analysis

 K E Y N O T E                                                         I N T E R V I E W

       Consumer proximity offers
       a sound basis for investing

                Assets in densely populated and infill locations should provide the most
                    resilient value and vigorous growth for US logistics investors,
                           say Crow Holdings’ Ben Doherty and Ken Valach

 Trammell Crow began his career in real es-                                                        to demand three times more space and
                                                                    SPONSOR
 tate 70 years ago by building and leasing a                                                       lean toward newer product, except in in-
                                                             CROW HOLDINGS
 warehouse in Dallas, Texas. Crow Holdings                                                         fill locations where location and proximity
 carries on this legacy in the logistics space                                                     to customers may trump functionality. In
 through Crow Holdings Industrial, its indus-    Ben Doherty: Crow Holdings Capital fo-            deeply populated markets, drive time to
 trial development company, and Crow Hold-       cuses on the top US markets that serve the        consumers becomes the most important
 ings Capital, its investment management         highest population density and consumption        factor for e-commerce operators because of
 company. Ken Valach, chief executive officer    base, as these markets tend to have barriers      the pressing need to get their products to
 of Crow Holdings Industrial, and Ben Do-        for new supply and the strongest operat-          end users quickly. Often, these urban infill
 herty, managing director of the logistics and   ing fundamentals. It is clear that continued      locations are in high-barrier markets with
 self-storage groups at Crow Holdings Cap-       growth in e-commerce is the main demand           little opportunity to build new product, so
 ital, drill down into the US logistics market   driver for logistics space today. However, it     tenants will lease existing product that may
 with PERE’s Stuart Watson.                      is hard to quantify exactly how much e-com-       not meet their needs from a functionality
                                                 merce is contributing to absorption because       standpoint.

 Q     What locations are most
       attractive to institutional capital
 to invest in US logistics today and
                                                 of the difficulty in determining what space is
                                                 dedicated to online sales versus more tradi-
                                                 tional logistics uses, including the replenish-
                                                                                                   Ken Valach: Future proofing your invest-
                                                                                                   ment in the logistics sector always comes
 does e-commerce impact market                   ment of traditional retail stores.                back to location. Crow Holdings Industrial
 selection?                                          Nevertheless, e-commerce users tend           is focused on the top eight US metropol-

12 PERE     •   February 2020
Analysis

   Minding the store
   US self-storage still offers possibilities
   for investment

   Self-storage has been a challenging sector for investors in recent
   years, says Doherty, but it may be about to turn a corner. “We
   have seen an abundance of new supply come onto the market.
   Operators have shown themselves willing to give substantial
   discounts in order to fill up their facilities, and in some cases
   this has driven rental rates below the levels underwritten by
   developers and capital providers. However, many believe that
   new supply peaked in 2019, and while 2020 fundamentals may
   continue to be challenging in affected trade areas, demand
   continues to see year-over-year increases. We expect this to
   continue over the next few years.”
       Self-storage remains attractive to investors because it              “You can still find pockets of opportunity because self-
   provides a diverse but predictable cash flow, and virtually no       storage is a trade area business – facilities largely serve only a
   capital expenditure is required when a tenant vacates a space.       three- to five-mile radius. We are seeing trade areas where it still
   “For the most part, all you need is a broom to sweep out the         makes sense to put new supply on the ground, and where we can
   unit,” quips Doherty. The sector may also provide a useful           achieve our lease-up projections and rental rates,” says Doherty.
   hedge against fluctuations in national economic cycles. “Self-           However, it is vital to have detailed knowledge of the local
   storage is a needs-based product. Life events drive the demand,      market landscape before building. “You have to understand
   and this can offer resiliency to economic swings.”                   demographics and the potential 3-5-7 mile area, what is under
       As in the logistics market, Crow Holdings Capital is mainly      construction today, which existing stores could be expanded,
   focusing on new development in major US metros with strong           who has applied for permits to build new product and what land
   consumer demand.                                                     is or could be zoned for storage use.”

itan areas, which represent approximately                                                        tear something down and re-zone it to con-
50 percent of the absorption in the country.                                                     struct a new building. With that caveat, we
However, city selection is not the only im-                                                      believe the best opportunity today in logistics
portant element; developers need to consider                                                     is ground up development. We see market
additional factors like access to freeways and                                                   support for this belief in two recent separate
the number of traffic lights trucks will have                                                    accounts with institutional investors in which
to go through when driving to and from the                                                       our partners find there is greater value to
location.                                                                                        build rather than buy.
    Further, selecting a location with good
                                                    “We believe we will
access to employees is increasingly impor-                                                       BD: We place great emphasis on invest-
tant, especially for some of the labor-inten-
                                                    continue to see the                          ment basis. In previous years, we focused
sive e-commerce uses. The employee base                                                          primarily on acquisitions where we could
in the logistics sector is generally not highly
                                                    highest rent growth                          lease vacant space and roll existing be-
compensated, so if the drive for employees                                                       low-market leases to market rents to drive
is too far, hiring can be difficult. To address
                                                    in premier high-                             net operating income and increase asset
this challenge, some tenants prefer infill                                                       value. We were able to acquire these highly
locations, not just for distribution of prod-
                                                    barrier sub-markets                          functional and well-located assets at a fa-
ucts, but also because proximity to mass                                                         vorable basis relative to replacement cost.
transit makes it easier for employees to get
                                                    due to constraints on                        However, during the last five years, we
to work.                                                                                         have largely pivoted toward speed-to-mar-
                                                    available space and the                      ket speculative development because we

Q     Are investors in the sector
      better served by acquiring
existing space or by backing
                                                    growing demand for                           see greater value in our investment basis
                                                                                                 for modern Class A buildings and an op-
                                                                                                 portunity for outsized returns. This is sup-
development?
                                                    last-touch properties”                       ported by the improving trends in logistics
KV: Crow Holdings Industrial is a developer                                                      fundamentals; demand is outpacing supply,
by specialization. In the rare case when we do      BEN DOHERTY                                  and we have seen consecutive quarters of
an acquisition, it is because we are going to                                                    increasing rents and declining vacancy.

                                                                                                           February 2020      •   Logistics 13
Analysis

 Q      Which industrial asset types
        provide the most resilient value?
 BD: We spend a lot of time talking to
 tenants and brokers to understand current
 tenant needs and how they may evolve
 in the future. Today, we see the greatest
 potential value in buildings that are 400,000
 square feet or smaller. In fact, most of the
 recent warehouses we are building are
 150,000 to 300,000 square feet. We prefer
 smaller buildings for a few reasons: there
 is generally a lack of available space in             Case study: Wildlife Commerce Park, Dallas
 modern buildings this size; they tend to
 provide greater optionality for demising              Wildlife Commerce Park is a 220-acre business park located in the heart of Dallas-Fort
 into multi-tenant use; and they historically          Worth. This cornerstone logistics park is the result of a floodplain reclamation project
 serve the deepest tenant market. Last-touch           by Crow Holdings Industrial. It is centrally positioned between Dallas and Fort Worth
 infill locations are particularly scarce due to       within close proximity to the DFW International Airport. The strategic location offers
 the high barriers for new supply. In some             easy access to regional population centers via multiple transportation modes.
 markets, we are seeing double-digit rent                  The project currently consists of eleven Class A buildings totaling 3.7 million
 growth for those types of assets.                     rentable square feet. Phase II was completed in December 2019 and was 92 percent
     Investors are aware that while they might         preleased. A focus on prime location, access to a strong labor force, a diverse mix
 be paying a seemingly low cap rate today,             of building features, the newest security and quality amenities are key factors in the
 these investments have historically provid-           success of the project and have resulted in a robust tenant base with national credit.
 ed the most predictable cash flow and the             The logistics park also features a 100-acre lake, interior roadways and infrastructure.
 opportunity to realize the highest increased          Wildlife Commerce Park is expected to be a long-term hold by Crow Holdings
 rents over a longer duration of the hold pe-          Industrial.
 riod.                                                     “Wildlife Park is a great example of creating a site in a central location in one of
                                                       the major markets which is a regional distribution hub and has a large and growing
 KV: Over the past 10 years, e-commerce has            population. The site has convenient access to labor, freeways and a major airport. We
 changed the definition of what constitutes a          had enough land to execute on a variety of buildings that appeal to a wide range of
 Class A logistics building. We try to exam-           tenants,” says Ken Valach.
 ine the supply within each market and build
 something that stands out above the com-
 petition. For instance, the amount of land         some of these markets have great aggregate         KV: I agree, however, some of the low-barri-
 available for employee and trailer parking         consumption drivers for logistics demand.          er markets are very large, so you must avoid
 can affect the value of the building and is        This tends to mean that some developers            painting them with the same broad brush.
 often overlooked as a value source. Future         and capital providers believe that ‘if you build   For example, South Dallas is arguably over-
 proofing is a popular topic today, but with        it, they will come’. In these markets, site se-    built because of land availability and low bar-
 speculative buildings it is always tough be-       lection, design and labor are critical – if you    riers to permitting, but there are other parts
 cause of the lack of clarity around what the       choose the wrong location and design, and          of Dallas where an entitled site will do very
 market will look like in twenty years.             the property remains vacant for a long period      well. North-east Atlanta is soft, but Atlanta
     You also have to avoid individualizing a       of time, it can have a depressive effect even      is very strong overall. Wherever you are, you
 space in such a way that your building be-         on transactions in the surrounding area, so a      must remain aware of pricing. We do a lot
 comes less attractive to some tenants. For         lot of research and knowledge are required to      of one-off joint ventures with third-party
 instance, a popular idea today is to go to the     avoid these risks.’’                               private equity groups, and everything today
 highest clear height that tenants demand to                                                           is priced to perfection. We recently dropped
 ‘future proof’ a property, but the truth is that                                                      out of a deal in Southern California because
 some tenants do not want that kind of height.                                                         of pricing. We could not justify rental rates
 It may actually be too specialized. It is more                                                        that were so far above what anyone has
 art than science to find the right mix of fea-                                                        achieved to date. That is where a lot of capital
 tures to best position a property for today and
                                                       “Future proofing your                           gets nervous and so do we.
 tomorrow.
                                                       investment always                               BD: On the positive side, the permitting

 Q     Are there any areas of the US
       logistics market where investors
 should exercise caution?
                                                       comes back to location”                         process is getting longer and more expensive,
                                                                                                       which helps limit new supply. These types
                                                                                                       of constraints in high-barrier submarkets
 BD: I worry about new supply in certain               KEN VALACH                                      should sustain high rent growth and favorable
 low-barrier markets, but at the same time                                                             fundamentals for the foreseeable future. n

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Analysis

               Logistics year in review
                        Opportunities in Asia-Pacific proved popular with many
                             real estate managers and investors in 2019

 AEW’s LOGISTIS fund                           LaSalle IM plans $1bn                         Blackstone buys GLP’s US
 extended again                                China logistics fund debut                    industrial portfolio for $19bn
 AEW Europe raised another €750                The China Logistic Development Fund           Totaling 179 million square feet, with
 million for the vehicle and extended its      has a target of $1 billion and is seeking     blue-chip tenants including Amazon, the
 life to 2026. The new equity brought          16 percent net return, say sources.           acquisition nearly doubles the manager’s
 the total fund size to €2.3 billion.          LaSalle has traditionally invested in China   US industrial holdings to roughly 370
 According to Rob Wilkinson, chief             via partnerships and its regional, blind-     million square feet. Blackstone will split the
 executive of AEW Europe, the capital          pool funds. In 2018, the manager formed       properties between Blackstone Real Estate
 raise was 100 percent undertaken by           a $300 million JV with local developer        Partners, its global opportunistic strategy,
 existing investors, including Allianz,        China Logistic Property Holdings to           and its income-oriented non-listed REIT,
 APG and PGGM.                                 invest in warehouses in China.                Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust.

           MAR 19                                                           MAY                          JUN                             JUL

 Colony Capital launches                       LOGOS fully invests maiden                    AustralianSuper grows logistics
 new logistics business                        $400m Indonesian logistics                    exposure with New Zealand debut
 Colony Capital doubled down on                venture                                       The superannuation fund will develop
 industrial real estate with the rollout of    The company plans to double the size          a $334 million prime logistics estate
 a new strategy in a sector that has been      of the platform, according to Stephen         in Auckland with operator LOGOS.
 one of the bright spots in the troubled       Hawkins, LOGOS’s managing director            The investor will fund the additional
 company’s portfolio. The firm has closed      for South-East Asia. “We are looking to       purchase of 14 hectares of land and full
 on a $1.16 billion industrial portfolio,      upsize the venture, so we can start to        development of 24 hectares of the Wiri
 adding 7.7 million square feet of last-mile   gradually pursue other opportunities          Logistics Estate in Auckland, alongside
 logistics property and jumpstarting a new     we have identified in the pipeline,” he       LOGOS. The latter initially bought 10
 strategy focused on bulk warehouses.          said. The new commitment will most            hectares of the site in July 2018 and
                                               likely come through re-ups from the two       kicked off construction in April 2019.
                                               existing institutional investors that have
                                               committed to the vehicle so far.

16 PERE    •   February 2020
Analysis

CBRE GI, LOGOS forms $800m                  Fosun seeks $450m from                       Norges Bank acquires stake in
Chinese logistics vehicle                   offshore for logistics vehicles              $2bn US industrial portfolio
Sources told PERE that the yuan-            Fosun Stater Logistics plans to raise        Norges Bank Investment Management,
denominated vehicle raised the              $450 million via two offshore logistics      manager of the Government Pension
capital from three or four Chinese          vehicles: a core logistics vehicle and a     Fund of Norway, announced its
insurance companies and two offshore        develop-to-core logistics vehicle. For       acquisition of a 45 percent stake in
institutional investors in July. The two    the core vehicle, the firm is aiming to      the portfolio from Black Creek Group’s
firms corraled $500 million-$600 million    raise $200 million before Q2 2020,           Industrial Property Trust REIT. The fund
via a first close in March.                 seeded by three logistics assets in          invested $896 million for its stake
   This partnership will pursue logistics   Hangzhou, Wuxi and Xi’an in China. For       through a long-standing JV partnership
development projects and invest in          the develop-to-core logistics vehicle,       with Prologis, which will hold the
existing logistics assets in first- and     the firm is planning to raise $250           remaining 55 percent interest and
second-tier Chinese cities. Through the     million for seven logistics development      manage the 127-property portfolio on
development projects, the firms will be     projects in the pipeline.                    behalf of the venture.
targeting a develop-to-hold, long-term
investment strategy.

                          SEP                                                      NOV                          DEC

                                            Investcorp closes on its largest
                                            logistics deal to date
                                            The Bahraini manager purchased 126
                                            US properties for a total of $800 million.
                                            With the addition of the new portfolio,
                                            Investcorp has doubled its US industrial
                                            exposure to 20 million square feet across
                                            240 properties. The bulk of the assets in
                                            the portfolio came from Boston-based
                                            Taurus Investment Holdings. Properties
                                            range from last-mile logistics and
                                            distribution to light manufacturing and      ADIA made $750m follow-on bet
                                            industrial chemical facilities.              in China logistics mandate
                                                                                         The sovereign wealth fund, through
                                                                                         its subsidiary HIP China Logistics
                                                                                         Investments, committed an additional
                                                                                         $750 million to Prologis to invest in
Blackstone’s last-mile bets placed with opportunity fund money                           logistics in China. The investor decided
Blackstone is aggregating investments in the space through its newest                    to re-up its investment in its existing
opportunity funds: Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe V and Blackstone Real          mandate with the industrial real estate
Estate Partners Europe VI. The first approximately 1,000 properties that make up         company during Q4 2019. The stabilized
the portfolio of Mileway, a company representing Blackstone’s debut last-mile            assets in the mandate will be sold to a
logistics bet to be wrapped in a corporate entity, are almost exclusively made           new open-end vehicle set up by Prologis
up of transactions from BREP V. With BREP V now beyond 90 percent deployed,              in China. ADIA is also an investor in the
Mileway’s growth will come from BREP VI.                                                 vehicle, according to sources.

                                                                                                 February 2020    •   Logistics 17
Analysis

  ‘Setting up an institutional
  business is the main target’
                  Mileway CEO Emmanuel Van der Stichele sets the agenda in
                 his first interview with PERE, three months after walking into
                  the high-pressure environment that comes with leading one of
                       Blackstone’s high conviction bets. By Jonathan Brasse

                    ‘T
                                          he opportunity was the       from investors and manager peers alike to
                                          appeal.” For Emmanuel        see whether a dedicated platform strategy in
                                          Van der Stichele, the        this as-yet largely unsophisticated segment
                                          chance to lead Black-        of the asset class can be institutionalized,
                                          stone’s latest conviction    and the pressure to succeed is not just high,
                                          bet in real estate was too   but under the spotlight too.
                     good to turn down. “It doesn’t often happen           “Of course, there’s pressure for me to
                     that you get such a chance.”                      perform,” responds Van der Stichele. “But
                         Van der Stichele is in Blackstone’s Lon-      whatever you choose to do, you always want
                     don office participating in his first inter-      to perform.”
                     view with PERE as chief executive officer of          From a 20-year-plus career becoming
                     Mileway, a business launched in September         increasingly senior at established power-
                     by the private real estate giant. It is, essen-   houses, including banks Credit Suisse and
                     tially, a company wrapped around more             JPMorgan, and latterly at logistics manag-
                     than 1,000 urban logistics properties that        er Goodman, Van der Stichele feels ready
                     Blackstone has been aggregating since 2017.       to step up to steer a business with no track
                     Together, they carry a value of more than         record, in a sector with limited institutional
                     €8 billion.                                       history. While Mileway starts life as the big-
                         The assets are defined today as ‘last-mile    gest pure-play, last-mile logistics business
                     logistics’, the business widely regarded to be    around, it is also a start-up.
                     the first of its kind dedicated to this type of
                     industrial property anywhere in the world.        No legacy issues
                     The bet has been made with equity from the        Indeed, while Mileway 1.0 has almost 100
                     Blackstone Real Estate Partners Opportu-          million square feet of property in close
                     nity Fund series in Europe, the higher risk       proximity to more than 100 cities across
                     and return characteristics of which are in        Europe to manage, and more than 7,000
                     line with its rapid growth aspirations for the    customers to service, it has no legacy infra-
                     new venture.                                      structure to contend with. Effectively, Van
                         Being responsible for such a concerted –      der Stichele has inherited a blank canvas
                     and sizeable – outlay by the world’s biggest      on which to demonstrate how a last-mile
                     landlord, and for a fund series with consist-     logistics business should by run. “That’s a
                     ently high performance, carries a weight          tremendous benefit,” he says. “It has been
                     of expectation. Furthermore, these funds          really helpful in attracting talented people,
                     are closed-ended, which means the invest-         too. I have an opportunity here to build a
                     ment is on a timer – BREP funds currently         team from scratch.”
                     have investment periods of 5.5 years. Add             And team-build he has. Last month,
                     the fact there is significant broader interest    Panayot Vasilev joined as chief financial

18 PERE   •   February 2020
Analysis

“There will be an
exit at some point,
and we want to
be sure we have
a business that is
ready”
EMMANUEL VAN DER STICHELE
Blackstone

                            February 2020   •   Logistics 19
Analysis

 officer from parent Blackstone where he also       attractive investment opportunity, the fact it     have the resources to better maintain your
 held a CFO position. He adds to a C-suite          is self-contained.”                                properties, but also being able to source
 also comprising Dominiek Van Oost, chief               This uniformity of infrastructure at           more qualitative and cost-effective services
 operating officer and a fellow Goodman             Mileway is going to be important when              from suppliers as well as having better sys-
 alumnus, and Thomas Ten Bokum, former-             meeting the challenge of herding so many           tems to focus more on your customers will
 ly European operations lead at logistics gi-       assets in what is broadly regarded to be a         be welcomed. We have a clear opportunity
 ant Prologis. They are part of a 150-strong        fragmented marketplace, and managing so            to do a more professional job here.”
 bench charged with establishing and grow-          many relationships over short lease terms.
 ing a business ripe for an institutional exit in   Last-mile space often lets for between three       Driving rents
 a short timeframe.                                 and five years, versus five to 10 for big box      Such a service is hoped to enhance Mileway’s
     Assessing when and how that exit ulti-         properties.                                        strategy to improve its portfolio’s perfor-
 mately occurs is Adam Shah, Blackstone’s               “There’s an intensity in the manage-           mance and so, in turn, drive the bottom line.
 COO of Europe real estate asset manage-            ment given the granularity of having tenants       To that end, the business has acquired assets
 ment. Shah, sitting beside Van der Stichele,       which are smaller and, in certain cases, not       with notable vacancy. It is also expected to
 echoes the benefits of operating in first-         quite as sophisticated. It is a very different     assist its strategy of driving rents among an
 word territory. “We don’t have any legacy          discussion to be had with a tenant wanting         occupier base which is often rent-insensi-
 issues that a similar business might have that     one million square feet, compared to a ten-        tive. Indeed, according to a report by Mu-
 has grown through M&A, with the compet-            ant wanting 100,000 square feet. Often, they       nich-based manager DWS, rent typically
 ing systems that brings. There’s no need to        are represented by different professionals         accounts for just 4 percent of logistics costs
 be spending lots of time at central office try-    and have a different leasing process. This is      for many e-retailers, which are the types of
 ing to translate and aggregate all that data.”     much more relationship-driven.”                    tenant Mileway seeks to accommodate.
     Shah says Mileway is already benefiting            Van der Stichele thinks the singular in-           When PERE interviewed James Seppala,
 from having one financial system, developed        frastructure offered by Mileway will also be       Blackstone’s head of real estate in Europe,
 by Blackstone as it was aggregating the as-        of benefit to its tenants. In keeping with pri-    after Blackstone announced the launch of
 set base over the last 18 months. “We re-          vate real estate’s broader theme of real estate    Mileway, he described scenarios in which
 quire all our vendors and third-party service      as a service as well as an asset, he expects the   properties could be offering a 3-5 percent
 providers to plug into that system,” he says.      business’s occupiers to enjoy the economies        going-in yield only for increases in occu-
 “That’s part of what will make Mileway an          of scale it achieves. “Not just being able to      pancy and tenancy changes to precipitate

    Mileway in stats
                                                                                                                               Ready to go the
                  Launched                                                                                                     last mile: Parkfield
                 September 2019                                                                                                Industrial Estate in
                                                                                                                               Battersea, London
                 Headquarters
                   Amsterdam

                     AUM
                      €8bn

                  Properties
                     1,000+

                 Square feet
                     100m

                  Customers
                     7,000+

                   Markets
    UK, Germany, Netherlands, France,
          Italy, Spain, Nordics

20 PERE      •    February 2020
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