Oxford Properties makes first investment in European logistics sector

Oxford Properties Group, the real estate investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, has made its first investment into the European logistics sector, making an approximately £200 million ($272 million) equity commitment to a new dedicated logistics development platform sponsored by GLP, European Development Partners I (GLP EDP I), which was created following GLP’s acquisition of Gazeley at the end of 2017.

The new platform will facilitate the development of Gazeley’s prime logistics sites across the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

This is a follow-on investment to Oxford’s participation in the privatization of GLP, a leading global provider of modern logistics facilities and technology-led solutions and one of the world’s largest real estate managers, which completed in January 2018.

The GLP EDP I investment is part of Oxford’s global strategy to increase its exposure to the logistics sector, which is benefitting from global economic growth and a structural shift toward e-commerce. Online retailers typically require between two and three times the logistics space of traditional brick-and-mortar retailing and with European logistics infrastructure much earlier in its development than the United States and Asia, now is a particularly attractive time to invest.