Union Investment and GARBE acquire first logistics asset in Slovakia

Union Investment and GARBE Industrial Real Estate jointly acquired the first logistics property for their “UII Garbe Logistik Fonds” investment fund. The seller is the Karimpol Group, a privately held property developer active in Eastern and Central Europe for over 30 years. It was agreed not to disclose the financial details of the transaction.

The property is located in an industrial park in the northwest part of Senec, a city roughly 25 kilometres northeast of the Slovak capital of Bratislava. Other logistics facilities that are largely used for distribution and light industrial purposes are located in the immediate vicinity. Constructed in 2019, the logistics property occupies an established location with convenient transport links. Overall, the property provides 32,400 square metres of warehouses space plus around 2,200 square metres of office space. Among the main tenants is the globally active logistics service provider, DSV. The property’s occupancy rate is around 96 percent.

Janica Gerecke, Head of Investment Management Europe at GARBE Industrial Real Estate, commented: “We are pleased to report our successful market entry in Slovakia via this joint acquisition together with Union Investment. The transaction is for us, and for our partner, an important milestone within the framework of our pan-European expansion strategy. In addition to Slovakia, we are looking for investment opportunities in France, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands among the European markets.”

GARBE opened a dedicated branch office in Bratislava last year to bolster its regional competence. Martin Polak, Managing Director of GARBE CEE, added: “We are glad we succeeded in securing this investment for our joint investment fund, UII Garbe Logistik Fonds, within the current competitive environment.”

And Dr. Edik Plätzer, Managing Partner of the Karimpol Group, added: “So far, we developed a total of 150,000 square metres of state-of-the-art logistics facilities for large-scale tenants at our Bratislava Logistics Park in Senec north of Bratislava. We are particularly delighted to have found our next major international investors with a long-term interest in the region for one of our assets in Union Investment and Garbe Industrial Real Estate. For the Karimpol Group, this marks yet another milestone in line with our successful property development strategy in the CEE region.”

Karimpol has been advised on this transaction by JLL’s Slovak Capital Markets team.

The “UII Garbe Logistik Fonds” vehicle was jointly launched by Union Investment and GARBE Industrial Real Estate in 2020. It is an institutional fund that invests in European logistics real estate. GARBE Industrial Real Estate will handle the fund’s lettings, property management and asset management via its integrated platform while taking care of the investment management together with Union Investment.