CBRE Global Investors has acquired a logistics property at Copenhagen Airport from private equity giant Cerberus, despite the 'escalation of the Covid-19 crisis in the crucial and final phase of the transaction', according to parties involved.
CBRE Global Investors said that the asset was purchased for a discretionary foreign investor for an undisclosed sum. CBRE executed the sale on behalf of Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), which is owned by the private equity fund Cerberus, in a narrow-structured sales process.
'There has been very good interest in the property, as the supply of core logistics properties is quite limited in Denmark in general,' said Daniel Marthendal, director, capital markets, CBRE Denmark.
'However, the transaction process itself has been quite complex, as it included, among other things, a parallel negotiation of a new site lease contract with Copenhagen Airport, a forward commitment to an expansion of the property and an escalation of the Covid-19 crisis in the crucial and final phase of the transaction,’ Marthendal added.
The property is located on a leasehold site with ‘first line’ access directly to the air cargo area and runways, covering an area of 11,669 m2. According to the vendor, it will be expanded within the next three years with an additional 3,700 m2 of terminal area.
CBRE Global Investors already owns the neighbouring property, which was acquired in 2015 and has FedEx as a tenant.
WFS, the largest independent air cargo operator worldwide, has owned the property since 2006 and has extended the building in a number of phases. The firm has been pursuing an 'asset-light' strategy in recent years and will continue to lease the building, CBRE said.
In addition to CBRE, the law firm Lundgrens assisted the seller with this transaction, while Kromann Reumert assisted the buyer.
