Paris
CBRE Global Investors Value Add Series and Virtuo Industrial Property establish JV to Develop Prime Logistics Units in France
05 Dec 2018

CBRE Europe Value Partners 2 (EVP2), the value add fund managed by CBRE Global Investors, has partnered with French Logistics developer Virtuo to develop a portfolio of prime assets in established logistics locations throughout France.
The seed portfolio comprises five sites in the main French logistics corridor (Marseille – Lyon – Lille) totaling 163,000 sqm of buildable area with construction commencing in Q1 2019.
The Joint Venture is actively pursuing further opportunities in prime locations in France through the acquisition of land as well as standing assets in need of repositioning, with a view to building a €1 billion prime logistics portfolio.
“We have established this Joint Venture with a partner who are specialist in French logistics. This transaction is in line with our European value add strategy of creating core assets in supply constrained markets” said Charles Baigler, Fund Manager, CBRE Global Investors’ Europe Value Partners Series. He added that “the logistics sector is a key focus for the fund series and we are keen to deploy additional capital into the sector across Europe.”
Gregory Blouin, founder and CEO of Virtuo, said: “We are very happy and excited about this Joint Venture which will reinforce our position in the market and accelerate our development. The demand for state-of-the-art logistic buildings in prime markets is growing despite land constraint in some location. Our development expertise with our sense of innovation combined with EVP2 capital will allow us to develop a portfolio of prime assets.”
Virtuo was advised by JLL, Paul Hastings, BG2V and Oudot et Associes, CBRE Global Investors was advised by Jones Day, PWC and Groupe Monassier.
About CBRE Global Investors
CBRE Global Investors is a global real asset investment management firm with $104.5 billion in assets under management* as of September 30, 2018. The firm sponsors investment programs across the risk/return spectrum for investors worldwide.
CBRE Global Investors is an independently operated affiliate of CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBRE). It harnesses the research, investment sourcing and other resources of the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2017 revenue) for the benefit of its investors. CBRE Group, Inc. has more than 80,000 employees (excluding affiliates) and serves real estate investors and occupiers through approximately 450 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. For more information about CBRE Global Investors, please visit www.cbreglobalinvestors.com.
*Assets under management (AUM) refers to the fair market value of real asset-related investments with respect to which CBRE Global Investors provides, on a global basis, oversight, investment management services and other advice and which generally consist of investments in real assets; equity in funds and joint ventures; securities portfolios; operating companies and real asset-related loans. This AUM is intended principally to reflect the extent of CBRE Global Investors’ presence in the global real asset market, and its calculation of AUM may differ from the calculations of other asset managers.
About Virtuo Industrial Property
Virtuo is a privately owned French developer, specialized in the development of logistic real estate, with proven track record of delivering complex and extensive projects to very demanding clients.
It has already developed more than 400,000 sqm with a pipeline of 600,000 sqm of future developments.
For more information about Virtuo Industrial Property, please visit www.virtuo-property.com.
The seed portfolio comprises five sites in the main French logistics corridor (Marseille – Lyon – Lille) totaling 163,000 sqm of buildable area with construction commencing in Q1 2019.
The Joint Venture is actively pursuing further opportunities in prime locations in France through the acquisition of land as well as standing assets in need of repositioning, with a view to building a €1 billion prime logistics portfolio.
“We have established this Joint Venture with a partner who are specialist in French logistics. This transaction is in line with our European value add strategy of creating core assets in supply constrained markets” said Charles Baigler, Fund Manager, CBRE Global Investors’ Europe Value Partners Series. He added that “the logistics sector is a key focus for the fund series and we are keen to deploy additional capital into the sector across Europe.”
Gregory Blouin, founder and CEO of Virtuo, said: “We are very happy and excited about this Joint Venture which will reinforce our position in the market and accelerate our development. The demand for state-of-the-art logistic buildings in prime markets is growing despite land constraint in some location. Our development expertise with our sense of innovation combined with EVP2 capital will allow us to develop a portfolio of prime assets.”
Virtuo was advised by JLL, Paul Hastings, BG2V and Oudot et Associes, CBRE Global Investors was advised by Jones Day, PWC and Groupe Monassier.
About CBRE Global Investors
CBRE Global Investors is a global real asset investment management firm with $104.5 billion in assets under management* as of September 30, 2018. The firm sponsors investment programs across the risk/return spectrum for investors worldwide.
CBRE Global Investors is an independently operated affiliate of CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBRE). It harnesses the research, investment sourcing and other resources of the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2017 revenue) for the benefit of its investors. CBRE Group, Inc. has more than 80,000 employees (excluding affiliates) and serves real estate investors and occupiers through approximately 450 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. For more information about CBRE Global Investors, please visit www.cbreglobalinvestors.com.
*Assets under management (AUM) refers to the fair market value of real asset-related investments with respect to which CBRE Global Investors provides, on a global basis, oversight, investment management services and other advice and which generally consist of investments in real assets; equity in funds and joint ventures; securities portfolios; operating companies and real asset-related loans. This AUM is intended principally to reflect the extent of CBRE Global Investors’ presence in the global real asset market, and its calculation of AUM may differ from the calculations of other asset managers.
About Virtuo Industrial Property
Virtuo is a privately owned French developer, specialized in the development of logistic real estate, with proven track record of delivering complex and extensive projects to very demanding clients.
It has already developed more than 400,000 sqm with a pipeline of 600,000 sqm of future developments.
For more information about Virtuo Industrial Property, please visit www.virtuo-property.com.