News Release

Carlyle and ARA Dunedin acquire UK logistics portfolio for £102 million

London, UK - Global investment firm Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) and ARA Dunedin today announced that their joint venture, established in March 2021, has acquired a portfolio of logistics assets in the UK from Moorfield Real Estate Fund IV for £102 million.

The portfolio comprises 11 distribution logistics assets which total 1 million sq ft in lettable area. Strategically located in the South-East and North-West regions, the portfolio is currently fully leased. 

Equity for the investment came from the Carlyle Europe Realty (CER) platform, Carlyle’s pan-European real estate strategy, and ARA Dunedin. This transaction builds on the joint venture’s existing UK distribution logistics portfolio of nine assets acquired earlier this year.  

European logistics is a core focus for CER given the sector has proved resilient throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and continues to benefit from the growth in e-commerce resulting in higher delivery volumes.

Anssi Halonen, Managing Director on the Carlyle Europe Realty advisory team, said: “We are delighted to make this addition to our UK logistics platform. The portfolio consists of highly complementary assets to our existing footprint, and the acquisition exemplifies our strategy of identifying well-located assets in the European distribution logistics market, which continues to be an asset class with attractive fundamentals and benefitting from strong structural trends.”

Chris Perera, Senior Investment Manager at Moorfield Group, added: “At Moorfield we are always looking for demographic, societal, technological and other trends that are driving consumer behaviour and having identified those underpinning the growth of the logistics sector many years ago, it has been and will continue to be a key part of our investment strategy. Alongside this we have undertaken a programme of value enhancing initiatives, significantly improving the income characteristics and profile of the portfolio, culminating in this strategically timed disposal.”

Carlyle and ARA Dunedin were advised by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, CBRE, CMS, Deloitte and Howden for this transaction. 

Moorfield was advised by Womble Bond Dickinson, Savills and PwC.

ENDS

Press Enquiries:

Carlyle:
Charlie Bristow, + 44 7384 513568, charlie.bristow@carlyle.com

About Carlyle
Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm with deep industry expertise that deploys private capital across three business segments: Global Private Equity, Global Credit and Investment Solutions. With $276 billion of assets under management as of June 30, 2021, Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, portfolio companies and the communities in which we live and invest. Carlyle employs nearly 1,800 people in 27 offices across five continents. Further information is available at carlyle.com. Follow Carlyle on Twitter @OneCarlyle.

About ARA Dunedin
ARA Dunedin is a specialist UK real estate investor and active asset manager with more than 20 years of experience across product strategies and asset sectors, with a focus on value add and performance optimisation. Established in 1996, the senior management team have been together for more than 15 years, developing an enviable track record and reputation as a transformative asset manager in the UK. In 2019, Dunedin joined with leading APAC real assets fund manager ARA Asset Management (“ARA”) to create ARA Dunedin, a partnership of like-minded philosophies combining ARA’s global fund management platform and Dunedin’s strong local asset management expertise and deep knowledge of the UK real estate market. For more information, please visit www.aradunedin.com.

About Moorfield Group www.moorfield.com
Moorfield Group is a leading UK real estate fund manager with a 25-year track record of investing across most sectors of UK Real Estate. Moorfield is especially well known as a vanguard investor in emerging sectors and has pioneered investment in student accommodation (since 1997), Build-to-Rent/PRS (since 2012) and senior living (since 2008). Moorfield also has an extensive track record in successfully identifying evolving investment themes in the office and industrial/logistics sectors.

Moorfield operates under an investment and asset management structure that enables it to be a vertically integrated (in-house) asset manager to the assets invested in, or to be a partner to those with proven operational/development expertise, through its long established strategic outsourcing model. Moorfield’s in-house expertise and track record of partnerships uniquely positions it to identify and deliver high returning investment opportunities.

Since 2005 Moorfield has raised five private equity real estate funds; four Moorfield Real Estate Funds (MREFs) together with a dedicated senior housing platform, Moorfield Audley Real Estate Fund (MAREF).

###