Aareal underwrites €368m German logistics financing

The loan has been provided for a term of 10 years to a 50/50 joint venture between Allianz Real Estate and the Belgian logistics property developer VGP NV.

Aareal Bank has provided a €368 million loan to finance a logistics property portfolio in Germany.

The loan has been provided for a term of 10 years to a 50/50 joint venture between Allianz Real Estate and the Belgian logistics property developer VGP NV. Aareal acted as the sole lender, arranger and agent in the deal.

The finance is secured by a portfolio of newly-built logistics assets in eight locations across Germany. The portfolio was developed by VGP and is fully-let.

Allianz and VGP formed their €500 million JV in March of this year. The JV was formed to acquire the logistics and industrial assets developed by VGP in Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary and will only purchase properties developed by VGP in future.

In May, VGP announced that the JV had completed the acquisition of 15 logistics parks, including the eight German properties. The value of the initial transaction was in excess of €500 million, including some future development pipeline, the firm said.

“This complex transaction for which Aareal Bank has acted as single underwriter is one of the largest logistics property portfolio financings in Germany in 2016 so far. With this transaction, Aareal Bank again underlines its expertise as a financing partner for the logistics sector”, explains Christof Winkelmann, managing director – special property finance at Aareal Bank.