New Arcapita venture to invest $2bn in US warehouses

A new joint venture between alternative investment firm Arcapita Group Holdings and Arden Group plans to acquire $2bn worth of industrial property assets in the US as capital pours into niche real estate sectors amid the global pandemic.

The venture already completed the purchase of multi-tenant industrial properties in urban centers valued at over $550m, with an additional $250m of real estate closing in the near term, according to a statement on Monday.

The goal is to grow the portfolio to as much as $2bn in gross asset value across the top 25 US industrial markets, it added.

The shift toward online shopping is altering supply chains and giving a boost to industrial landlords, especially those with space around major cities.

While hotels and retail properties have been battered by the pandemic, investors have flocked to warehouses as an e-commerce boom that was flourishing before the pandemic accelerates with consumers increasingly shopping online. Investcorp Holdings, also from Bahrain, recently spent $380m on acquiring an industrial real estate portfolio in the US.

“The overall US industrial market is driven by powerful long-term tailwinds and sustained capital inflows, generating growing investor demand in the multi-tenant sub-sector,” said Brian Hebb, managing director and head of Arcapita’s US real estate team.

Arcapita has offices in Atlanta, London, Singapore and Bahrain and offers Shariah-compliant investments in real estate and private equity to high-net-worth and institutional investors. Arden Group is a real estate investment management firm focused on equity and debt investments in the US.

The joint venture’s first purchase covers 5 million square feet, or about 465,000 square meters, spread across 18 industrial parks located in Atlanta, Charlotte, Columbus, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia and Indianapolis.

The acquisition of most of the properties is financed through commercial mortgage-backed securities and a revolving acquisition facility, both led by Goldman Sachs.