Barings, one of the world's largest real estate investment managers, has agreed two loans totalling €225 million to KKR and Palm Capital to finance their acquisition of industrial and logistics assets in Dublin and the greater Dublin area (GDA). The loans mark Barings's debut as a lender in the Irish logistics market.
In the first instance, Barings has provided a five-year €188.5 million senior secured, floating-rate loan to support KKR and Palm Capital’s €195 million purchase of the Core portfolio, a collection of 73 industrial and logistics assets distributed across Dublin and the GDA. The portfolio is 97 per cent let to a range of occupiers, including investment-grade rating tenants. Its largest single asset is the 51-hectare (125-acre) Naas Enterprise Park in Kildare.
The second loan facility comprises a €36.7 million floating-rate, first-mortgage loan, to fund the acquisition of a portfolio of six last-mile, light-industrial properties in Dublin. With an initial three-year term, plus two one-year extension options, the debt is secured against a portfolio comprising a total area of 32,000sq m (345,000sq ft), which is 95 per cent occupied with a WAULT (weighted average unexpired lease term) of 7.5 years.
Extensive experience
KKR is a global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, credit and real assets, with $252 billion (€223.5 billion) under management. Palm Logistics is an affiliate of Palm Capital, a pan-European real estate private equity specialist with extensive experience in the urban and last-mile logistics sector across Ireland, Scandinavia and Spain.
Commenting on Barings’s entry as a lender to the Irish logistics market, the company’s director of European real estate debt, Jose Garcia Cedrun, said: “We are pleased to have supported two high-calibre sponsors in KKR and Palm Capital with their growth in the Irish logistics market, where there exists a favourable supply/demand imbalance underpinned by extremely low vacancy.”
