NEW YORK CITY AND DALLAS — CBRE Investment Management has agreed to acquire a portfolio of logistics real estate assets in the United States and Europe from Hillwood Investment Properties, an industrial developer and owner based in Dallas.
Under terms of the $4.9 billion acquisition agreement, affiliates of New York City-based CBRE Investment Management will purchase the 57-property, 28.4 million-square-foot portfolio from Hillwood. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, and CBRE Investment Management expects to close on the assets in stages.
The portfolio includes 33 properties in the United States totaling 19.2 million square feet and 24 assets in Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom totaling 9.2 million square feet.
“This milestone transaction reflects our ability to leverage the strong financial capacity of our parent company to secure compelling opportunities that help to drive strategic real assets solutions for our clients,” says Chuck Leitner, CEO of CBRE Investment Management. “Backed by a $35 billion AUM global logistics platform and a skilled team with deep domain expertise, we are positioned to be one of the world’s leading investors and operators of logistics assets.”
The portfolio is one of several multi-market portfolio transactions in the industrial sector in the past few weeks. Recent deals include Ares Management Corp. purchasing a 1.5 million-square-foot portfolio from Molto Properties; Dermody Properties selling a 32-property, 8.5 million-square-foot portfolio to alternative investor AXA IM Alts; and Faropoint buying a 10-building portfolio in northern New Jersey from Kushner Cos.
The U.S. industrial sector has performed remarkably well the past several years despite disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to research from Colliers, seven major industrial markets in the United States currently have a vacancy rate below 4 percent, including Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia and Columbus, Ohio.
CBRE Investment Management, a subsidiary of Dallas-based CBRE Group, is a leading global real assets investment management firm with $133.1 billion in assets under management as of third-quarter 2021. The firm operates in more than 30 offices and 20 countries around the world.
Hillwood Investment Properties, a Perot company, is a real estate developer, investor and advisor focusing on Class A industrial properties in 52 markets across the United States and Europe. The firm was founded in 1998 as a platform to develop and acquire properties outside of its master-planned flagship campus, AllianceTexas in Fort Worth, Texas.
— John Nelson