Aquila Capital Announces its First Logistics Fund in Southern Europe

Aquila is looking to raise 1.5 billion euros.

In a press release published on its website, Aquila Capital announced that it was launching its first logistics investment fund in southern Europe, including Portugal. Aquila Capital Southern European Logistics (ACSEL) has a target investment volume of 1.5 billion euros with a maximum debt-to-equity ratio (LTV) of 50%.

ACSEL launches with a committed capital volume of €330 million raised from international institutional investors, including SCI Primonial Capimmo. The open-ended fund has a pipeline of nine newly built assets located in Italy, Spain and Portugal and expects to raise “first close” capital within 18 months.

The first investment has already been approved, a 115,000 m2 logistics asset in Azambuja, a strategic and central logistics centre in the Lisbon metropolitan area. 70% of the asset has been pre-let to a blue-chip tenant with a 20-year lease term.

“The fund will focus on modern, energy-efficient logistics properties that are built and operated to the highest standards of energy efficiency and environmental protection, and that create added value by combining sustainability, attractive lease terms and strategic locations,” Aquila stated on its website.

“Selection criteria include proximity to transport hubs to minimise transport-related carbon emissions and sustainable building standards that include BREEAM certification, installation of rooftop photovoltaic panels and offsetting CO2 emissions.”

Roman Rosslenbroich, CEO and co-founder of Aquila Capital, added, “We see a growing interest among institutional investors in sustainable real estate assets, including logistics centres. The Aquila Capital Southern European Logistics fund is a response to this demand, focusing on the southern European markets where we still see many opportunities due to the need for modern, large-scale warehouse space. Our investors will benefit from our long-standing real estate experience – a total transaction volume of €2.6 billion covering a total area of over 1,800,000 square metres – as well as early market entry advantages due to our local teams. This real estate sector matches the strategies of investors and tenants, who consider all ESG criteria, for all sustainability, as a fundamental and necessary value to contribute to the global energy transition.”