-Near-term pipeline would boost JV’s assets under management to £90m-
A joint venture (“JV”) between Peloton Real Estate (“Peloton”) and Moorfield Group (‘’Moorfield’’), the UK-focused real estate investment manager acting on behalf of Moorfield Real Estate Fund V (“MREFV”), has completed the acquisition of a four-asset open storage portfolio.
The portfolio, comprising four sites in Newport, Peterborough, Preston and Tewkesbury, and totalling 37-acres, was acquired for £26 million, reflecting a 13.1% net initial yield. All the sites are leased to BCA, the UK’s largest used vehicle marketplace.
The transaction grows Peloton and Moorfield’s owned portfolio to over 50-acres across six sites.
The JV, which was established in 2022, planned to aggregate an initial £100 million portfolio of open storage assets throughout the UK. Moorfield is the majority investor in the JV, acting on behalf of MREFV, with Peloton responsible for identifying acquisitions and site operations.
The JV made its first investment in July last year with the purchase of an 11-acre site in Garston, Liverpool, for £4 million.
With a number of sites under offer, the JV’s near-term pipeline would expand its owned portfolio to 70 acres across 10 sites, with a collective value of approximately £90m.
The JV aims to grow the portfolio beyond the initial £100 million target, with a continued focus on assembling a geographically and occupationally diverse portfolio of sites to create a secure income profile, while adding value through active asset management initiatives.
Increasingly an institutional asset class in the United States, open storage is a fast-growing real estate sub-sector in the UK. Occupier demand is being driven by HGV, van and private car parking, recycling, storage of building materials, containers and scaffolding, as well as potential for electric vehicle charging.
Nick Okell, investment director at Peloton, commented: “These assets are aligned with our strategy, being in recognised logistics locations close to established urban centres and providing a strong income return profile.
“We continue to be on the lookout for further acquisitions to add to our rapidly growing portfolio with Moorfield, with a healthy near-term pipeline that will put us within touching distance of our initial target size and provide a solid foundation for future growth.”
Chris Perera, senior investment manager at Moorfield, added: “The rapid success of our open–storage joint venture with Peloton, combined with the sector’s compelling fundamentals, give us strong conviction to keep growing the platform.
“We have a proven track record of institutionalising emerging sectors across the spectrum of alternative and operational real estate and believe we can replicate our success across other asset classes in open storage.
“Open storage complements our existing strategies in adjacent sectors such as self-storage and urban warehousing, and we remain confident in the long-term performance of the UK industrial and logistics property market.”
Peloton and Moorfield were advised by Savills, Carter Jonas and WBD.