Blackstone has bought a portfolio of 18 last-mile logistics assets close to urban areas in the United Kingdom including Manchester, Birmingham, Reading and Leeds for £200 million from PGIM, part of the United States investment firm Prudential Financial.
The 2 million-square-foot portfolio will be folded into New York-based Blackstone's recently launched Indurent United Kingdom logistics platform, created following the integration of the former listed businesses Industrials REIT and St Modwen.
Blackstone said the assets are 100% purpose-built, multilet logistics assets that will undergo an extensive refurbishment capital expenditure initiative to upgrade them.
James Seppala, head of European real estate, Blackstone, said in a statement that United Kingdom logistics "continues to be a high conviction theme for Blackstone bolstered by increased occupier demand and strong e-commerce growth. With this latest acquisition we have now invested over £1 billion into scaling Indurent this year."
Julian Carey, CEO at Indurent, added: “The long-term outlook for the sector remains highly compelling," adding that “we are actively seeking opportunities to expand our portfolio in 2025 through further acquisitions, as well as developing an additional 2 million square feet of new sites each year from our significant landbank, creating jobs" that can fuel national and regional growth.
In 2024, Blackstone has invested or committed over £1 billion in Indurent’s platform, including £600 million invested into purchasing operational assets and £400 million through forward funding developments.
Indurent has a customer base of more than 2,000 businesses. The portfolio ranges from urban light industrial units and "last-mile" delivery facilities to mid and big-box developments.
Blackstone said United Kingdom e-commerce "penetration" is expected to rise by 6% by 2027 and believes demand for faster delivery is driving occupier requirements for smaller units in more infill locations.
It also said new supply in 2024-25 is forecast to decline 57% due to a drop in United Kingdom construction starts to 54% below 2022.
Blackstone is targeting industrial and logistics across Europe. In September, it entered into a JV partnership with Burstone Group on its pan-European Logistics portfolio for €1 billion. In December, it bought a €500 million portfolio of Czech logistics assets.
It built the Mileway business, starting five years ago, as a pan-European last mile logistics real estate company. It is now the largest owner of last-mile logistics real estate assets in Europe. with a portfolio of more than 2,000 properties across 11 countries.
It launched Logicor, a leading owner, manager and developer of European logistics real estate, in 2012. Logicor’s portfolio of properties spans warehouse space in key transportation hubs and close to major population hubs, supporting over 2,000 customers.