Group Oxford Properties, real estate branch of American pension fund OMERS, has confirmed it will purchase European management company M7 Real Estate.
According to IPE Real Assets, the group, which currently manages more than 51 billion euro, announced that this purchase is part of its 3.3 billion euro investment plan for Europe, focused mainly on the urban logistics and industrial segments.
In December, EjePrime advanced the negotiation should be closed for around 5.3 billion euro, in line with the latest assessment of M7 RE’s portfolio, which is spread across the United Kingdom (country of origin) and 12 other European countries: Portugal, Holland, France, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Finland, Ireland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Croatia. These assets have a total combined area of 67.5 million sqm.
In Portugal, M7 Real Estate owns a portfolio with around 40 assets located mostly in Lisbon (65%) and Porto (25%). More recently, M7 acquired a 74.000 sqm Portuguese portfolio.
Quoted by IPE Real Assets, the Canadian group commented that «Oxford Properties had already stated its desire to invest around 3 billion euro on the European logistic market and this purchase will immediately increase our growth in order to reach that goal».
«Oxford Properties will benefit from M7’s team experience on future portfolio acquisitions», further added the group, which considers this, a new opportunity «for our investment partners to invest on the logistic market and increase the capital managed by M7».
Jo McNamara, Executive Vice-President at Oxford Properties in Europe, commented that «this transaction is the perfect example of how Oxford can be creative with its capital so as to grab opportunities in the types of assets and geographies we are more invested on». She considered the purchase of M7 «will allow our partners to invest supported by a top management team within a segment with great growth prospects».
M7 Real Estate currently manages around 4 billion euro in assets on behalf of other investors, and it will continue operating the same as before, led by founders Richard Croft and David Ebbrell. Under the wing of Oxford Properties, it increases its access to capital for corporate and real estate investments.
Croft considered that «since we started 11 years ago, we transformed M7 into a market leader investment management company, with more than 4 billion euro under management. This transaction provides us with the support and resources of a large global investor, which shares our entrepreneur «ethos» and our ambition to grow M7’s business significantly in the coming years».
