Aberdeen Standard deploys €69M in Spanish logistics & office assets

Swiss bank, UBS, has sold nº7 of the World Trade Center Almeda Park to Aberdeen Standard for €60 million.

This is the Barcelona market’s first major acquisition of the year, which is expected to see strong investor demand following a record 2019.

The asset is located in Cornellà (Baix Llobregat) with a GLA of ​​25,000m² and is let, amongst others, to PepsiCo, Inc. the american multinational food, snack and beverage company which has a range of products including soft drink, Pepsi, and Lay’s potato chips. The office has been PepsiCo’s Southern European headquarters in this location since 2018.

Aberdeen Standard Investments, the largest British fund manager, has also closed the acquisition of a cross-dock logistic asset in the Madrid suburb of Coslada which is home to the Dry Port of the Community of Madrid, Spain’s major logistics hub. The area is also close to the Madrid–Barajas Airport and is one of the industrial towns that surround the A-2 highway between Madrid and Guadalajara (known as the Corredor del Henares), considered the «golden mile» of online sales.

The warehouse, which is fully let to DHL Freight Spain S.L.U. on a 10 year contract, has a GLA of 6,785m² including 1,892m² of office space. As a cross-dock warehouse, it has 37 loading docks on both sides and the tenant describes it as «ideal for distribution in the city» due to its strategic location for last-mile logistics in Spain. In addition, it has a free height of 10.5 meters, providing ample space for temporary storage, with a part of the building used as a refrigerated warehouse.

According to Pilar Valencia, investment director for Aberdeen Standard Investments in Iberia, “Madrid has a considerable and important logistics market and we see a strong growth in the supply of modern logistics assets on the outskirts of the city. The highly limited space available in the Coslada submarket and its strategic importance in connecting the city with the airport and the routes of the east of the country, will allow this asset to remain relevant in the supply chain for the long term. In addition, the strong growth of electronic commerce in Spain reinforces the importance of last-mile logistics centers such as Coslada».