Savills IM transacted over EUR 2.5 billion in 2020 while rebalancing towards more recession-resilient sectors
21 January 2021
Savills Investment Management (Savills IM), the international real estate investment manager, transacted more than EUR 2.5 billion globally in 2020, including c. EUR 2.1 billion in Europe and c. EUR 457 million in Asia. Globally, transactions included nearly EUR 1.7 billion of acquisitions and EUR 833 million of disposals, resulting in a net investment of EUR 842 million. The firm now manages approximately EUR 21.2 billion (over USD 25 billion) in assets under management (AuM), a company record.
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Savills IM completed 74 transactions across 14 countries in 2020, 8 of which exceeded EUR 100 million. Highlights include the acquisition of the Łódź City VI logistics park in central Poland, marking a new strategic partnership with Kajima Properties; a logistics complex in Ansbach, Germany, on behalf of European Logistics Fund 2; and a portfolio of 38 supermarkets in Denmark.
The firm has focused on rebalancing its business towards more resilient sectors, launching new, pooled and discretionary products that are recession resilient. This includes VESALF I, a discretionary pan-European logistics fund, and the European Food Retail Fund, which focuses on the one retail segment in which investors are looking to increase rather than decrease their exposure, according to Savills IM’s Outlook 2021 survey.[1]
2020 was an especially impressive year for Savills IM’s European logistics platform, which has reached c. EUR 4.7 billion in AuM. In addition to the launch of VESALF I, capital raising continued for ELF 2 and 3, and an array of further logistics transactions were completed for other funds and strategic partnership clients, including in Italy and Poland. ELF 2 is now fully invested after the purchase of a logistics building in Venray, the Netherlands, and holds 28 properties across six countries.
After, most recently, two deals in the Netherlands and France, successor fund ELF 3 now has a portfolio of seven properties in three countries and has raised more than EUR 375 million in equity. Of the EUR 1.9 billion+ of overall capital raised globally in 2020, the largest proportion was for ELF 3.
Kiran Patel, Global CIO and Deputy Global CEO, Savills IM, commented:
“The impacts of COVID-19 are unfortunately continuing into 2021, but they will subside. If investors can see through the short-term effects of the pandemic, then they can leverage longer-term themes to their advantage. There are opportunities in market sectors showing greater resilience, such as logistics, residential and food retail. Given the lower-for-longer interest rate environment, the yields available in real estate are even more attractive.
“These opportunities are best identified by experts on the ground with strong local knowledge, which is why we place so much importance on our network of 17 offices in 13 countries.”
[1] Outlook 2021: Building resilience in global real estate portfolios, Savills IM, November 2020, https://www.savillsim.com/research/outlook-2021.aspx.
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