Blackstone has bought a portfolio of 18 last-mile logistics close to Manchester, Birmingham, Reading and Leeds for £200 million from PGIM.
The 2 million-square-foot portfolio will be merged into Indurent, which was itself created following the integration of Industrials REIT and St Modwen.
Blackstone said the assets are 100% purpose-built, multilet logistics assets that will undergo an extensive refurbishment capital expenditure initiative to upgrade them.
James Seppala, Head of European Real Estate, Blackstone, said:
“United Kingdom logistics continues to be a high conviction theme for Blackstone, bolstered by increased occupier demand and strong e-commerce growth. With this latest acquisition we have now invested over £1 billion into scaling Indurent this year."
Julian Carey, CEO at Indurent, added:
“The long-term outlook for the sector remains highly compelling. We are actively seeking opportunities to expand our portfolio in 2025 through further acquisitions, as well as developing an additional 2 million square feet of new sites each year from our significant landbank, creating jobs that can fuel national and regional growth.”
Indurent has a customer base of more than 2,000 businesses. The portfolio ranges from urban light industrial units and "last-mile" delivery facilities to mid and big-box developments.
Blackstone said United Kingdom e-commerce "penetration" is expected to rise by 6% by 2027 and believes demand for faster delivery is driving occupier requirements for smaller units in more infill locations.
Blackstone has also built up its Mileway business, starting five years ago, as a pan-European last mile logistics real estate company. It is now the largest owner of last-mile logistics real estate assets in Europe, with a portfolio of more than 2,000 properties across 11 countries.
It also launched Logicor in 2012. Logicor is an owner, manager and developer of European logistics real estate. Logicor’s portfolio of properties spans warehouse space in key transportation hubs, supporting over 2,000 customers.
Clarion Events, the organiser of Multimodal, is owned by funds managed and advised by Blackstone.
