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Publish Date : 23-Jan-2018

Rasmala plc, a London headquartered independent investment company has announced the acquisition of two logistics facilities in Germany for $185 million (154 million). The acquisition was completed through Rasmalas asset management subsidiary, Rasmala Investment Bank Limited (Rasmala or RIBL).

The first facility is a major new Amazon logistics centre spanning 88,000 sq.m and was acquired for $145 million (121 million). Rasmala simultaneously acquired a second facility, a $40 million (33 million) logistics centre let to a subsidiary of Decathlon, the sports goods retailer.

Both facilities are located in the new Grade A Westfalenhuette logistics park, north-east of Dortmund, Germany. The new Dortmund logistics park is strategically located for distribution operations with easy access to both eastern and western Europe. Located within the densely populated Ruhr Valley the most populated region in Germany the site is ideally situated for logistics operations.

These acquisitions add to Rasmalas portfolio of investments in the logistics sector. In March 2017, Rasmala purchased Amazons biggest UK fulfilment and distribution centre, which covers 1 million sq.ft. (93,000 sq.m) located in Dunfermline, Scotland, for $82 million (61 million). That transaction is believed to be the biggest ever single logistics property deal in Scotland. Outside Europe, Rasmala acquired a fully let portfolio of 120 warehouses in Dubai Investments Park, close to the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai for $140 million.

Zak Hydari, Group Chief Executive at Rasmala Group, said: Rasmalas acquisition of over $400 million of logistics assets demonstrates our appetite for stable income-yielding assets.

Hydari said: Well-sited logistics centres let to the right tenants have become a critically important part of any large real estate portfolio. He added: Real estate is going to remain a key strategic pillar of our 2018 plans leveraging our expertise in acquiring attractive assets in the most in-demand asset categories, let to blue-chip tenants.

Naseer Aka, Head of Real Estate at Rasmala, said: E-commerce continues to grow its market share. As a result, distribution centres have taken over from traditional retail space as drivers of rental growth. As the leading e-retailer in the United States and the worlds biggest retailer by market value, Amazon is the kind of blue-chip tenant we want.

Rasmala arranged funding of the purchase through DekaBank and were advised on the transaction by Addleshaw Goddard LLP and GSK Stockmann as legal advisers, E&Y as financial advisers and CBRE as buy-side advisers. Gulf Islamic Investments (GII) were co-investment advisers on the Amazon transaction.

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