Belgian real estate investment trust Montea has acquired 17 assets from the French logistics portfolio Reverso from the British company Tristan Capital Partners as part of a new four-year growth plan called Track27. The acquisition is accompanied by a €150 million capital increase, Business Immo has learned.
The acquisition is an investment of almost €150 million for Montea, with a net initial yield of 5.6%. The portfolio consists of 17 logistics assets spread across France, two-thirds of them on the so-called "backbone" and one-third on the Atlantic Arc. Totalling a built-up area of 80,000 square metres, they are fully leased and mainly occupied by French haulage company Jacky Perrenot.
"This operation is truly the expression of Montea's transgenerational logic," Luc Merigneux, country director France at Montea, told Business Immo. "This portfolio exposes us to a good covenant with a growing and well-managed company, Jacky Perrenot, and proposes an extremely low land use density, around 12% for the entire portfolio."
The portfolio is accompanied by 650,000 square metres of land, for which Montea is eventually considering potential redevelopment and expansion projects. According to the Brussels-listed real estate company, this could eventually boost the yield on the operation to 7%.
"Against a backdrop of land scarcity and net-zero artificialisation, we believe that buying assets with low-density land will enable us to redevelop new assets over the long term," said Merigneux. "As such, this portfolio offers the prospect of value creation over the medium to long term, all in a sound and environmentally virtuous manner".
Tristan Capital Partners had mandated Eastdil Secured and JLL for the sale of the Reverso portfolio. The portfolio originally comprised 28 assets generating €18.7 million in annual rental income, as revealed by CoStar News in April.
A robust growth plan
By increasing its portfolio in France from €250 million to €400 million, this acquisition marks "an important step for Montea", said Merigneux. "Our aim is to bring France and Germany up to the level of our Belgian and Dutch assets, both in terms of volume and quality," he added. Through this more balanced portfolio, Montea hopes to consolidate its position as a benchmark property company in Western Europe.
To achieve this, the Track27 growth plan calls for investments of €1.2 billion by 2027 in all European countries where Montea operates, to bring its assets under management to €3.5 billion. "In France, our objective is to reach €1 billion in assets between 2027 and 2030", he added.
To finance the Track27 growth plan, Montea is launching a €150 million capital increase. Combined with the leverage enabled by financing, this new equity should give the group an investment capacity of €250 million-€300 million in 2024.
Logistics assets are located in Aix-en-Provence, Athies, Béziers, Châtenois, Cholet, Cournon-d'Auvergne, Escrennes, Heudebouville, Jonage, Les Sorinières, Marolles-sur-Seine, Migné-Auxances, Miramas, Montbartier, Noyal-sur-Vilaine, Saint-Denis-lès-Bourg and Valence.