Global investment firm The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) and Safestore (FTSE 250: SAFE) today announced that their joint venture, established in August 2019, has acquired Opslag XL, a self storage operator with three stores in The Netherlands.
The portfolio comprises three high-quality self storage stores, including two freehold locations in The Hague and Hilversum regions and one short leasehold in Amsterdam. The assets total c.7,000 sq metres (75,000 sq ft) of maximum leasable area. The Dutch self storage market offers an attractive opportunity given it is a still highly fragmented market characterised by under-supply in floor space per capita relative to more mature markets such as the US and UK.
This acquisition represents the next step in establishing a significant platform in the rapidly growing European self storage market, which has benefitted from positive demographic and social trends and been resilient during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The Carlyle Group has an 80% shareholding in the joint venture through Carlyle Europe Realty (CER), a €540 million pan-European real estate fund, with Safestore, one of Europe’s largest listed self storage operators, holding the balance.
This acquisition represents CER’s third add-on acquisition for its platform with Safestore, following the acquisitions of Lokabox, a six-store self storage portfolio in Belgium, in June 2020, and M3 Self Storage, a six-store self storage portfolio in The Netherlands, in September 2019.
Marc-Antoine Bouyer, Managing Director on the Carlyle Europe Realty advisory team, said: “This acquisition represents the next step in establishing a significant platform in the rapidly growing European self storage market, which has benefitted from positive demographic and social trends and been resilient during the Covid-19 pandemic. We look forward to continuing to work alongside Safestore to unlock further value in our portfolios and seek additional opportunities in the European self storage market.”
Frederic Vecchioli, Chief Executive Officer of Safestore said: “Since 2016, Safestore has grown its portfolio to 159 stores, through the successful acquisition and new development of 46 stores in our core UK and Paris markets and entry into the Spanish market. This acquisition increases our exposure to the attractive Dutch self storage market. In combining the specialist industry knowledge of Safestore with the pan-European investing experience of Carlyle, we continue to identify prime development and acquisition opportunities, building on our multi-country, highly scalable platform.”
ABN AMRO served as commercial advisor to Carlyle.
The transaction follows CER’s acquisition of a portfolio of three distribution logistics assets in Germany earlier this month.
