Aldar Properties, a real estate developer, investor and manager in the United Arab Emirates, is partnering with global private-equity firm The Carlyle Group to invest in self-storage and logistics in Europe and the United Kingdom. Aldar has committed AED 407 million to Carlyle Europe Realty, a pan-European real estate strategy, according to a press release.
The initiative also includes other stakeholders, with the goal of investing in a portfolio of self-storage facilities and development sites in Western Europe. In addition, Aldar will have a majority stake in a Caryle-managed portfolio of 14 U.K. warehouses comprising 900,000 square feet of rentable space.
“Aldar is pursuing a programmatic, themed investment strategy in Europe, building key relationships that will support our growth in the coming years,” said Talal Al Dhiyebi, CEO of Aldar. “In partnering with Carlyle, an established player in European real estate, we are gaining quality access to a real estate segment that offers high yield and steady capital growth while also gaining the opportunity to bring our expertise to bear. These newly acquired assets will anchor our logistics business as we continue to explore opportunities, locally and international, to build further scale in the coming years.”
“We are delighted to enter into a strategic partnership with Aldar, and look forward to benefiting from the firm’s well-established, real estate capabilities and proven development and asset-management expertise,” said Marc-Antoine Bouyer, head of Carlyle Europe Realty, an opportunity fund that invests in real estate in Europe. “We are excited by the opportunity to continue working alongside Aldar to identify development and acquisition opportunities that help scale our platform.”
The private-equity investments dovetail with Aldar’s recently announced capital commitment to European commercial real estate private credit and its acquisition of London-based developer London Square. They follow the company’s recent commitment to invest AED 1 billion to expand its logistics portfolio across Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the release stated.
The investments, capital commitments and acquisitions are part of a broader expansion strategy focused on gaining exposure to high-growth real estate sectors while also expanding internationally into mature markets. The company aims to accelerate its growth while diversifying revenue streams, geographic presence and adding significant scale to its platform.
Based in Abu Dhabi, Aldar has a portfolio comprising more than AED 37 billion in commercial, logistics, hospitality, residential and retail. It has two core business segments, Aldar Development and Aldar Investment.
Carlyle deploys private capital across four business segments: corporate private equity, global credit, investment solutions and real assets. With more than $350 billion of assets under management, it employs more than 2,100 people in 29 offices across five continents. In 2022, the company acquired Germany-based self-storage operator myStorage in a joint venture with U.K.-based self-storage operator Safestore Holdings PLC.
