Barings purchased the land in November 2016, and then forward funded the development of the then-10,292 sq m prime cold storage building which completed in November 2017. It has now completed a further extension of the building, which the existing tenant of the wider asset has agreed to lease.

Barings was advised by Etyo for the technical aspect and Fairways for the legal part.

The CRT of Lesquin is an established logistics hub within 10km of Lille, France’s third largest logistics market. Seven million inhabitants live within a 150km radius of the site which is also within a four-hour drive of major cities including Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, with the likes of Geneva, Frankfurt and London via Calais also in reach. The logistics park is less than a 10-minute drive from Lille-Lesquin Airport, a two-hour drive of seven major French and Belgian ports, and a short drive from the A23, A27 and A1 motorways. Major occupiers nearby include Auchan, Amazon, La Poste, DHL, DSV, Fedex, DB Schenker, UPS and Kuehne + Nagel.

Now featuring a 15,705 sq m lettable area, the site is a state-of-the-art negative cold storage facility with potential to revert to a dry warehouse. The main building has been certified BREEAM In-Use Very Good, while the extension has also achieved a BREEAM Very Good rating.

Guillaume Bieganski, Country-Head of France at Barings Real Estate, said: “The practical completion of the extension to CRT of Lesquin, and subsequent upsize and lease renewal with a prestigious occupier, is a positive milestone in our business strategy for the asset and proves our approach of bringing together on-the-ground expertise with global market insights. The extension was envisaged initially at acquisition. The scheme is in the best logistics and last mile location in the north of France and benefits from the strong fundamentals in France’s industrial and logistics market that are driving rental growth.”

Gunther Deutsch, Managing Director and Head of European Transactions at Barings Real Estate, said: “The logistics sector benefits from fundamentals that continue to make it one of Barings’ preferred assets classes. We are very happy to see our original underwriting come to fruition with this expansion at CRT of Lesquin. Given the lack of supply for prime logistics real estate in so many of Europe’s markets, we remain strongly interested in acquiring value-add and core+ logistics property in our preferred jurisdictions, namely the Nordics, Netherlands, Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain, and are open to opportunities as forward commitments or JVs with developers.”

Contacts:
Tali Robinson/Polly Warrack/Ben Monteith (SEC Newgate)
baringsRE@secnewgate.co.uk

Barings Real Estate
Barings Real Estate (BRE) is a part of Barings and offers a broad range of global investment opportunities across the private debt and equity investment markets. BRE invests in all major property sectors and offers an expansive range of financing solutions to real estate borrowers. Follow us on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/showcase/barings-alternative-investments.

About Barings
Barings is a $351+ billion* global investment manager sourcing differentiated opportunities and building long-term portfolios across public and private fixed income, real estate, and specialist equity markets. With investment professionals based in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, the firm, a subsidiary of MassMutual, aims to serve its clients, communities and employees, and is committed to sustainable practices and responsible investment.

*Assets under management as of June 30, 2023