Valor completes £23 million of off-market logistics acquisitions in London

Valor Real Estate Partners has completed the acquisition of three urban logistics assets in London, in separate transactions, for £23 million. All three properties are on estates in prime Zone 2/3 locations where Valor has an existing footprint, extending its portfolio to 75 assets across 3.5 million sq ft in what is Europe’s dominant e-commerce centre.

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In Beckton, Valor has acquired two units on a 0.5 acre site on Gemini Business Park, from Compagnie du Parc. It follows the purchase in December last year of a substantial holding on the estate totalling 300,000 sq ft, which included 14 units ranging from 13,000 to 115,000 sq ft and 1.64 acres of land on for development. The intention is to undertake a refurbishment of the units in 2023. Benefitting from its proximity to the A13 and A406 (North Circular) motorways, the location is a highly sought-after last mile hub, as demonstrated by the estate’s blue blue-chip occupiers which include Hermes, Fedex and Royal Mail.

In Wandsworth, South-West London, Valor has acquired a single-let c. 12,000 sq ft property on a 0.33 acre site, from a private investor. The highly competitive last-mile logistics location is adjacent to the A218, which connects with the South Circular arterial road. It follows the purchase of an adjacent 1.1-acre brownfield land site in December last year, where Valor intends to deliver a modern industrial estate on the site, comprising 28,000 sq ft across six new buildings.

Valor has acquired two units on a 0.5 acre site on Gemini Business Park, from Compagnie du Parc.

In a third transaction, Valor has acquired two units totalling 16,000 sq ft on Dorma Trading Park in Leyton, from a private seller. The intention is to undertake a refurbishment programme to create a modern, small bay estate that caters to last mile delivery logistics operators, with two million people within a 20-minute drive time. In January last year Valor acquired 24,000 sq ft of modern logistics space on a 1.26-acre plot on the same estate.

Leyton is located in the submarket of Waltham Forest which is characterised by low availability of modern urban logistics space and has seen rents increase by a cumulative 40% between 2015 and 2020, driven by demand from e-commerce and food delivery businesses.

“Demand for fit-for-purpose urban facilities in ‘true’ last mile locations shows no sign of abating, driven by parcel and grocery operators’ need to be within ever shorter distances of consumers to enable rapid delivery. Wandsworth, Beckton and Leyton are core logistics locations where we now have a significant presence, and which offer access to millions of consumers in a short drive time. All are high density London submarkets where competition for land is fierce, which will underpin strong rental growth over the short to medium term,” commented Jeremy Achkar, Vice President, Investments.

Across these transactions, Valor was advised by M1, Belmore Real Estate, Greenberry Advisors, Gerald Eve and Simmons & Simmons.