Invesco Real Estate and Barwood Capital have teamed up to build a £300m portfolio of up to eight urban/last mile industrial and logistics warehouses across the UK.
The partnership has already acquired its first two sites, including a four-acre plot adjacent to Manchester’s Trafford Retail Park - on which it plans to develop a multi-unit scheme - and a 5.25-acre site in Coventry, with planning consent, where construction is due to start in July.
Andy Rofe, MD at Invesco Real Estate Europe, said: “With further pressure on global supply chains, we recognise the need for edge-of-town distribution assets as many firms reshape their operations to address the challenges of the just-in-time delivery model.
“Partnering with a logistics specialist such as Barwood Capital, with their extensive UK network, industrial development and asset management expertise provides us with direct access to the UK Industrial sector, with the potential to harness the considerable forecast growth.”
Hugh Elrington, MD at Barwood Capital, said: “We are delighted to be teaming up with Invesco Real Estate, allowing us the depth of funding to take advantage of the UK’s continued growth in this sought after sector of the market.”
Edward Henson, director and head of transactions at Barwood Capital, said: “Demand for industrial space remains strong across the UK regions and our partnership with Invesco Real Estate allows us to use our combined expertise to unlock development and asset management opportunities and capture the supply/demand imbalance that exists in key locations.”
Rob Johnston, the head of UK and Nordic real estate transactions at Invesco Real Estate, said: “Both the Manchester and Coventry sites are ideal schemes to kick-start the portfolio, given their prime locations. We have a strong pipeline of further opportunities as we work towards our aim to create a portfolio of 6-8 schemes, with an AUM of around £300m.”