Specialist lender Leumi UK has completed a £29.4m facility on behalf of the Industrial Open Storage (IOS) joint venture (JV) between Marchmont and NW1 Partners. The loan will assist with the financing and capex programme of a seven-asset portfolio of IOS across England.
The JV which operates under the brand ‘SURFACE’ was the first institutional investor to enter the IOS market in the UK – strategically acquiring off-market properties in prime industrial areas with limited IOS space and excellent accessibility.
Six sites are situated in strategic locations within Greater London and one site is located in Liverpool.
Gez O’Sullivan, Relationship Director at Leumi UK, said: “We were delighted to work with such a highly rated sponsor as NW1 Partners, who have an in-depth knowledge of the IOS sector across Europe and the States. Their established JV partnership with Marchmont Investment Management, who are considered one of the UK’s leading asset managers in the industrial sector, was key to Leumi UK underwriting this transaction.
The IOS sector in the UK is performing extremely well, fuelled by the lack of land available to service growing economic sectors across the South East of England and other major urban areas.
Leumi UK looks forward to working again with NW1 and Marchmont on future acquisitions.”
Jack Lockwood at Marchmont, said: “This is our second joint venture with NW1 Partners. By leveraging our collective operational expertise and strategic investment approach, we are poised to deliver substantial value through the redevelopment and optimisation of these IOS sites.
It has been great working closely with both the Brotherton and the Leumi UK team, whose support and financing are crucial to the success of this project, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration on future ventures.”
Brooks Blake at NW1 Partners, said: “We continue to remain strong believers of IOS – having invested across the US, UK and Netherlands. As we deploy the rest of our capital in this strategy, having an institutional and sophisticated lender such as Leumi UK, is incredibly valuable and we look forward to growing our partnership even further.”
