Bahrain-based leading financial group GFH announced that its European subsidiary, Roebuck Asset Management, has completed an exit from its Amazon Last Mile Logistics Warehouses Portfolio, covering an area of 140,000 square meters in Spain.
The GFH portfolio, which was acquired in 2020, comprises three strategically located, high-quality assets leased to Amazon Road transport Spain (SLU).
According to the GFH statement, the last-mile delivery facilities, spread across Murcia, Alicante, and Valladolid, form a critical part of Amazon’s rapidly expanding Spanish logistics network.
Online sales accounted for unprecedented levels of total retail sales during the COVID-19 pandemic, spiking as high as a third in some European countries during lockdowns.
Over the past decade, Spain’s e-commerce market has grown to over $5.5 billion, expanding by an average of more than 13 percent annually. Amazon has invested nearly $3.3 billion in Spain over the past decade and has seen its revenue stream rise fourfold in the last few years. It increased the need for last-mile supply assets that facilitate and reduce delivery times.
Roebuck took an active asset management approach during the holding period. It also oversaw the completion of the development and the takeover by the tenant, and actively sourcing a suitable buyer to secure the exit, the GFH statement added.
Mr. Hugh Macdonald-Brown, the Managing Partner at Roebuck, remarked that “Significant shifts in the e-commerce and Fast Moving Consumer Goods markets over the last two years have sparked increased demand for quality warehousing facilities across Europe.”
“Leading distributors now rely on well-located, modern facilities as part of their logistics networks. This is an opportunity we have been swift to capitalize on,” Mr. Macdonald-Brown added.
Mr. Nael Mustafa, Co-Chief Investment Officer at GFH, stated that, “While we still believe in the overall fundamentals of investing in logistics assets, our investment in the Amazon Last Mile Logistics Warehouses Portfolio has delivered the target yield and the capital appreciation desired.”
“Amid favorable market conditions, we have decided to make a timely and profitable earlier exit to secure a strong return for investors,” Mr. Mustafa added.
However, its strategy is an opportunistic and agile vision aimed at capitalizing on market changes. The group has a continuing strategy to diversify and expand its portfolio of international real estate assets.
The GFH Co-Chief Investment Officer further added that “GFH remains committed to the strategy of sourcing and structuring robust real estate asset transactions in Europe and the US that provide stable returns in fundamentally sound sectors supported by long term trends.”
GFH’s exit from its Amazon Last Mile Logistics Warehouses Portfolio has positively impacted the group’s year-end financials of 2021. It reflected an overall return on investment (ROI) of 17 percent, matching what was initially targeted over a longer holding period.
Related: Bahrain’s GFH transfers real estate assets to newly formed ‘Infracorp’
