Intelligent Real Estate Investments - Hines

Hines European Value Fund 2 Invests in Three Logistics Assets in Italy

(LONDON) – Hines, the international real estate firm, has agreed to invest in three new industrial and logistics assets in Northern Italy on behalf of its Hines European Value Fund 2 (HEVF 2), from leading Italian logistics developer, FAP Investments, for €75 million.

The three sites, located in Tortona, Montichiari and Breschia, will span over 100,000 square meters of class A space, upon completion in the first half of 2023. Each asset is situated in a key strategic location for Italy’s e-commerce and manufacturing industries with excellent transportation links which is likely to appeal to prime credit tenants.

The Tortona asset will consist of two warehouses, totaling c55,000 square meters, the Montichiari site covers an area of over 30,000 square meters, and the Brescia location will become home to two last-mile logistics warehouses, covering a total area of c15,000 square meters.

Furthermore, each asset will be designed and built according to the highest international standards of sustainability and energy efficiency, inspired by modern ESG criteria, to include the installation of electrical panels, the use of electric vehicle fleets, an energy consumption performance monitoring system, common spaces dedicated to employee wellbeing and the development of green mobility programs.

In Italy, the logistics market is growing rapidly due to the inability of its current infrastructure to meet burgeoning demand. In 2020, Itay’s e-commerce turnover amounted to a record €48.2 billion with approximately 3.2 million new online users underlined by the impact of the global pandemic. Hines intends to invest a total of over half a billion euros in logistics assets in Italy by the year-end focused on the construction of proprietary logistics hubs built from scratch on greenfield sites.

This acquisition builds on Hines’ existing partnership with FAP Investments, who continue to develop the 82,219 square meters Castel San Pietro Logistics asset, near Bologna, which HEVF 2 signed to acquire in December 2020 and remains in the process of pre-leasing.

The HEVF series invests across the major real estate sectors. HEVF 1 focused on core-plus and value add office investments, and HEVF 2 is most active in the logistics and living space. Logistics is expected to comprise the largest sectoral allocation of HEVF 2 and the Fund will continue to pursue portfolios of this nature, assuming leasing risk with strong conviction in the market dynamics for new high-specification class A logistics assets in key locations across Europe.

Paul White, Senior Managing Director and HEVF 2 Fund Manager, at Hines, commented: “We continue to see a very compelling opportunity to accumulate new class A logistics assets and take leasing risk in the Northern Italian market. On the fundamentals side, going into 2020, vacancy rates were already very low and the new supply pipeline very thin. Increasing consumer demand for online goods, and corresponding ramp-up in distribution, has pushed demand on quickly and we see rents following. At the same time, a larger pool of institutional investors are looking for exposure to quality logistics assets, particularly for income at scale. We believe our timing in accumulating a meaningful Northern Italy portfolio can capitalise on these dynamics.”

Mario Abbadessa, Senior Managing Director and Country Head of Hines in Italy, added: “We are proud to confirm the strategic acquisition of three sites in Northern Italy which marks an important step for the ongoing development of our logistics platform across the country. We will continue to strengthen our dedicated logistics team and source local strategic partnerships, such as the one with FAP Investments, to drive forward our growth as we commit to investing capital in the logistics sector.”

HEVF 2’s capital raising is concluding with successful speed of deployment. In parallel, with this investment, the Fund will be over 70% allocated to 10 investments across France, Italy, Germany, UK, the Netherlands and Spain with several other investments also in exclusivity.

Advisors on the transaction include: Nctm Studio Legale, EY, YARD REAAS and GVA Redilco.

About Hines

Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 240 cities in 27 countries. Hines oversees a portfolio of assets under management valued at approximately $160.9 billion¹, including $81.7 billion in assets under management for which Hines serves as investment manager, and $79.2 billion representing more than 172.9 million square feet of assets for which Hines provides third-party property-level services. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired approximately 1,450 properties, totaling over 485 million square feet. The firm has more than 180 developments currently underway around the world. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a pioneering commitment to ESG, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world.

Since entering Europe in 1991, Hines has grown its European platform to include offices in 16 cities as well as a presence in 62 cities in 13 countries. Hines oversees a portfolio of assets under management valued at approximately €26.3 billion of assets under management in Europe, including €21.9 billion for which Hines serves as an investment manager and €4.4 billion representing more than 3.8 million square meters of assets for which Hines provides third-party property-level services, in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.

More information about the group: www.hines.com

1. Includes both the global Hines organisation as well as RIA AUM as of December 31, 2020.

About Hines European Value Fund 2 (HEVF 2)

HEVF 2 is a euro-denominated, Luxembourg-based investment fund launched in December 2019. Managed by Hines, its objective is to acquire a portfolio of core-plus and value add profile commercial real estate investments throughout the major European markets on behalf of an institutional investor group. Whilst the fund has broad flexibility across sectors, the portfolio is largely focused in Logistics, Residential and Office usages.

HEVF 2 follows its predecessor HEVF 1 (2017 vintage) in continuing the flagship HEVF series for Hines in Europe, alongside the Hines European Core Fund (HECF) open-ended core flagship vehicle.