Blackbrook Capital (Blackbrook), a European independent real estate investment firm focusing on mission-critical commercial property, has announced it has acquired real estate with a value of more than €200 million in its first year of operations with a further build to suit pipeline completing in phases over the next 12 months.
Since Blackbrook launched on the 3rd of March 2020, it has fulfilled its goal of investing in mission-critical single-tenant net lease assets in Europe, with a core focus on industrial & logistics. Key investments have included:
Last-mile logistics facility in the Copenhagen Region of Denmark
Strategic cross-dock logistics facility in Scotland occupied by Sainsbury’s
Prime logistics facility in Poland leased to a major global e-commerce player
Build to suit supermarket pipeline in Portugal to be occupied by market leader Continente
Portfolio of grocery stores Spain occupied by Eroski
Blackbrook has also expanded its headcount and operations since launch, despite a challenging backdrop for commercial real estate investment in 2020. By focusing on strategic and defensive sectors, such as prime industrial & logistics and grocery retail, Blackbrook has been able to grow consistently, in line with its objectives and investment targets. Key developments include:
Investing in five European countries: the UK, Denmark, Portugal, Spain and Poland
Portfolio totalling more than 200,000 sqm of the leasable area across Europe
Increase in headcount to eight employees
Offices established in London and Luxembourg
Arvi Luoma, Co-Founder & CEO, commented: “We attribute our growth in this past 12 months to focusing on defensive sectors that have demonstrated resilience throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and will sustain themselves as the world starts to recover from the past 12 months.”
He continued: “The success of the business and our strong deal pipeline is testament to our experienced team and the partners we have worked with across all of our transactions. We have been able to close on all of our acquisitions quickly and efficiently, in the face of mounting economic challenges, demonstrating our ability to perform under unusual market and pricing conditions.”
He added: “Looking ahead, our strategy remains focused on targeting mission-critical commercial real estate across Europe while fine-tuning our approach to become aligned with the best opportunities in the market. Over the next 12-24 months, we will be building our portfolio to over €1 billion AuM predominantly in the industrial & logistics sector but also investing in select defensive assets where we see attractive income profiles and asset value growth over the long-term. An example of this was our recent investment in convenience grocery retail which demonstrated highly defensive qualities over the past year as many other sectors were severely impacted. We continue to be driven by long-term strategic value in real estate assets and strong tenant credit profiles, which will ultimately always form the backbone of our strategy.”
