Round-up of the monthly mandates and buyouts from the global investment market with stories regarding Oxenwood, Macquarie, BlackRock and more.
EC News Investments is accompanied by a round-up of the months people moves and latest news, giving you indepth insight into the market.
Oxenwood acquired £286m UK logistics portfolio
Oxenwood Real Estate and a Canadian institutional investor have acquired a UK logistics portfolio for £286mn. The nine logistics assets, known as the Ultrabox portfolio, are spread over the UK and were sold by a joint venture between Lone Star and Anglesea Capital. Stewart Little, joint chief executive of London-based Oxenwood said, “We believe the underlying assets provide an excellent opportunity to deliver further performance over and above the high-quality income streams, and we are very much looking forward to getting started.” The 3.87m square foot portoflio incorporates eight leased properties and a vacant unit in the south of the UK. Annual rent from the portfolio is £16.45m. The purchase, part funded by a £151m loan from Wells Fargo, takes Oxenwood’s UK logistics portfolio to £430m.
Macquarie acquisition of UK Green Investment Bank backed by USS
A Macquarie-led consortium that includes the UK’s largest pension fund is to buy the Green Investment Bank (GIB) from the UK government for £2.3bn. The consortium is made up of Macquarie Group Limited (Macquarie), Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 5 (MEIF5) and the £57bn Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). Macquarie will own GIB once the deal is completed, according to a statement from the asset manager and USS. USS will invest in two of three new GIB investment vehicles to be created in connection with the bank’s sale to Macquarie. A USS spokesperson confirmed that the pension scheme had invested in a newly established investment management vehicle that will hold all of the GIB’s existing offshore wind investments. In addition, it has acquired a significant portion of the bank’s existing loan portfolio via a number of its wholly owned subsidiary entities.
BlackRock wins Bpf Meubel fiduciary mandate
BlackRock has been appointed fiduciary manager of the €3bn pension fund for the furniture industry (Bpf Meubel), replacing SEI Investments. Rob van Dijk, executive trustee of Pensioenfonds Meubel said in a statement, “We have appointed BlackRock, as we wanted to increase our grip on our investment portfolio”. Pensioenfonds Meubel has allocated 46% to fixed income and 29% to equity. Last year, it returned 0.94% on investments. Meubel’s agreement with SEI Investments was for an indefinite period, but had the option to cancel at any moment. Meubel has more than 16,000 active participants, 23,490 pensioners and more than 60,000 deferred members. At March-end, its funding stood at 100.4%. During the past few years, several pension funds have separated fiduciary management and actual asset management. Earlier this year, the scheme for the bakery sector (Bakkers) switched to NN Investment Partners for fiduciary services, leaving Lombard Odier, which had also been managing the pension fund’s European equity and bonds.
PGGM invests €200m in SolarCity
PGGM has put forward €200m for a portfolio of solar panels run by Tesla-owned energy provider SolarCity, the largest player in the US. With the investment, PGGM has become co-owner of solar energy systems at 38,000 households across 21 UA states with a combined capacity of 275 megawatts. Returns will come from rental income, maintenance contracts and financing. It would be in line with infrastructure yields, the asset manager indicated. Maurice Wilbrink, spokesman for PGGM, said returns from the direct investment would be “proper, stable and for the long term”. PGGM highlighted that it was its first investment in the fast-growing market of decentralised energy generation. It added that the investment fitted well into its growing portfolio of private investments focused on sustainability. The investment was made on behalf of PFZW and the €6bn sector scheme of painters and decorators (Schilders), as well as some other pension fund clients, PGGM said.
