Safestore buys Carlyle out of Benelux jv for €139m

Safestore has bought the remaining 80% of its Benelux joint venture from Carlyle for €139m (£118m). The self-storage operator has paid €67m for the shares, with a further €67m to refinance existing borrowing and €5m for transfer tax and other deal costs. It was acquired based on an enterprise value of €146m and was financed by Safestore’s existing loan facilities. The jv between Safestore and Carlyle Europe Realty was set up in 2019 to acquire and develop assets in the Netherlands and Belgium to leverage Safestore’s operating platform outside its core markets. Since then, it has grown to a portfolio of 600,000 sq ft, which is currently 74% occupied. The portfolio is made up of 12 freehold properties, two ground leases and one leasehold property. Nine of the properties are in the Netherlands: six in the Haarlem/Amsterdam area, with additional properties in The Hague, Het Gooi and the recently opened Nijmegen store. In Belgium, two stores are in the Brussels area, two in the city of Liege and further properties in Nivelles and Charleroi. All the properties are managed by Safestore. The expected initial yield based on total enterprise value is 3.9%. The transaction is expected to increase the group’s LTV to 31%. Safestore chief executive Frederic Vecchioli said: “Combining Safestore’s highly scalable operating platform and development experience with Carlyle’s investment expertise proved to be a successful partnership. We are now exploring further opportunities to work together.” Marc-Antoine Bouyer, managing director on the Carlyle Europe Realty advisory team, added: “This transaction marks the culmination of a major acquisition and asset management effort through our joint venture with Safestore to assemble an institutional-quality self-storage portfolio of scale with exposure to prime cities in the Netherlands and Belgium. We believe that the market fundamentals for European self-storage remain highly attractive and look forward to working alongside Safestore in identifying further opportunities on the continent.” To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews Photo © Safestore