Investcorp buys $800 million property portfolio in US

The transaction represents the biggest real estate acquisition to date by the company

Investcorp on Monday said it closed a new fund with €318 million in commitments . Courtesy Investcorp

Investcorp, the Bahraini entity that counts Mubadala Investment Company as its biggest shareholder, bought a portfolio of 126 industrial properties in the US for $800 million (Dh2.93 billion).

The properties are spread across five major cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Charlotte and Memphis with a total area of 10.2 million square feet, the company said on Thursday.

“We are excited to build upon our position as one of the largest international buyers of US real estate through this transaction, which represents the biggest real estate portfolio acquisition in our history,” said Mohammed Alardhi, executive chairman of Investcorp.

“This milestone demonstrates our confidence in the US market, our team’s prowess in identifying attractive investment opportunities with strong underlying fundamentals, and our ability to deploy greater capital behind our convictions.”

Investcorp ranks among the top 10 international investors in US real estate over the past five years and is one of the country's top 50 overall investors in the sector for the same period, according to Real Capital Analytics. Abu Dhabi's Mubadala holds a 20 per cent stake in the company which aims to double its assets under management over the next three years.

The latest acquisition provides Investcorp with a 91.5 per cent leased portfolio of top tier warehouse, distribution, and light manufacturing or research and development buildings across logistics, e-commerce, industrial chemicals and food services industries, among others. Investcorp owns approximately 240 industrial properties across the US totaling more than 20 million square feet, including the latest acquisition.

With consumers and businesses increasingly demanding faster deliveries, industrial real estate assets close to major population centers will become important, Mr Alardhi said.

"We have been actively building our industrial and logistics portfolio to capitalise on the opportunities of this secular growth trend and these transactions represent a major next step in our efforts," he added.

The company bought 11 properties in the US in June for $370m. Established in 1982, Investcorp is one of the oldest Middle East private equity companies and manages about $28bn of assets across private equity, real estate, absolute return investments and credit.

Investcorp entered into a partnership with Dock Square Capital - a company founded by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush -to expand its business in the US earlier this year.