• Pan-European urban logistics platform acquires 43,000 sq m last-mile logistics warehouse on outskirts of Barcelona
• Acquisition takes Crossbay’s Spain portfolio to over 150,000 sq m across 12 assets
• Crossbay has acquired almost 120 assets since launch in May 2020 as part of €1.5bn AUM expansion strategy

Crossbay, the pan-European urban logistics platform incubated by real estate investment manager MARK, has expanded its presence in Spain with the acquisition of a 43,000 sq.m last-mile logistics warehouse in Montcada, Barcelona.

The transaction, valued at over €60m, marks Crossbay’s fourth acquisition in Barcelona and its 12th in Spain, adding to assets in Madrid, Valencia and Seville as the platform continues to establish itself as one of the country’s foremost logistics platforms.

Details of the acquisition are as follows:

• The sale-and-leaseback arrangement sees Condis, a leading food retailer with over 600 stores in Barcelona, commit to a 10-year mandatory period on a 40-year lease
• The 43,0000 sq.m asset will function as the logistics centre for Condis Group’s stores across the Catalan capital
• The complex is located in the Montcada, an industrial area on the northern perimeter of the city

Crossbay’s Spanish portfolio now totals over 150,000, sq.m, taking the total size of its European portfolio to almost 800,000 sq.m. Crossbay aims to secure €500m assets under management (AUM) in Spain over the next three years.

The acquisition is the latest in Crossbay’s €1.5bn expansion strategy across Europe’s core real estate markets. The platform is seeking to capitalise upon the continent’s e-commerce boom by targeting urban logistics assets, primarily single-user distribution centres, in locations no more than 90 minutes from the nearest city centre.

Turbocharged by the pandemic, global e-commerce sales have skyrocketed by almost 380% since 2014, with a significant portion of that growth concentrated in key European markets. Sales volumes in Spain increased by 35% throughout 2020, leading to heightened demand for logistics real estate, with investment and prime rents increasing.

Marco Riva, head of Crossbay and logistics at MARK, comments: “We’re thrilled to get this deal over the line in what was a highly competitive process. A restricted number of key investors were invited to place bids but we were able to secure exclusivity as a result of our tried and tested DD procedures, certainty of execution and strong track record.

“The sourcing and acquisition of these types of opportunities requires an intimate knowledge of the local marketplace, which we can draw on thanks to our genuine pan-European presence through our network of in-country teams.

“Historically Spain had one of the lowest e-commerce adoption rates in Europe but the pandemic has accelerated the shift to online shopping and there is huge potential to modernise existing logistics facilities to meet the demands of occupiers and investors.”

Crossbay was launched by investment manager MARK, formerly Meyer Bergman, in May 2020 and has since gone on to acquire almost 120 assets across the continent to create Europe’s largest pure play urban logistics portfolio.

Crossbay specialises in single-user distribution centres and has a strong presence in Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands, where it recently acquired four sites.

That followed its entrance into the Polish logistics market after it acquiringed 100,000 sq.ft of space in Warsaw, Poland’s capital, and Lodz, the country’s third largest city, from leading industrial developer Panattoni Europe.

Crossbay secured €550m in equity commitments from major investors including Townsend Group, CBRE GI, Credit Suisse, Nuveen and QInvest LLC in late 2020, which was followed by a €400m debt facility from Citi investment bank in early 2021.