Stor-Age injects about R100m into joint venture
JOHANNESBURG - StorAge, SA’s biggest self-storage property fund, says it is injecting £4.4 million (about R100 million) into a new joint-venture with US asset manager Nuveen Real Estate which has acquired four properties in the UK.
Nuveen will acquire 90 per cent and Stor-Age a 10 per cent equity interest in the joint venture respectively, with the properties to be branded and managed by Storage King under its third-party management platform – Management 1st.
Valued
Valued at about R6.2 billion on the JSE, Stor-Age’s portfolio comprised 86 self-storage properties across both SA (56) and the UK (30) at the end of September.
Stor-Age said on Wednesday the joint venture provides an opportunity for it to partner with one of the largest, most established global investment managers. Nuveen has US$154 billion (about R2.8 trillion) of assets under management, with an 85-year investment track record, for which the acquisition forms part of their European strategy, the company said in a statement.
“The JV allows Stor-Age to grow and achieve further scale in the UK while providing an attractive return on invested capital. It also continues to leverage the third-party management platform, through generating both acquisition and ongoing property management fees.”
“The initial objective of the JV is to implement the portfolio rebrand and management platform overlay, with a view to expanding Nuveen’s exposure to self storage assets across the UK over the medium-term.
Strong
“We’ve built a strong foundation in the UK under the banner of our Storage King brand, which is enabling us to pursue significant growth on all fronts in a nimble manner,” said CEO Gavin Lucas.
“Our JV with Nuveen and the acquisition of Easistore demonstrates the strength, competitiveness and sophistication of our platform.”
Shares in Stor-Age were up 0.3 per cent in early trade on Wednesday and have fallen about 12 per cent over the past year.