Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises AEW Europe on €1 billion Logistics Funds’ Merger

International law firm Clifford Chance  advised AEW Europe in the context of the merger of its three logistics funds into a 1 billion euros pan-European investment Fund.

The three existing funds regrouped 13 institutional investors from 6 different countries and 56 grade A logistic warehouses representing 1.6 million sqm across Europe.  This merger creates a leading brand in logistics in Europe with a 1 billion euros assets under the name Logistis.  The market value of the portfolio as at December 2011 was €1 billion.   

The Fund will target Western European markets, focusing on France, Germany and the Benelux countries and will work in partnership with logistics developers and occupiers to provide state of the art logistics facilities.

As part of the merger, new five-year debt facilities have been put in place to fully refinance the existing debt.  The Fund will target a loan-to-value ratio of 40%. The LOGISTIS Fund has adopted an efficient structure combining a French OPCI managed by AEW Europe SGP and a Luxembourg company managed by AEW Europe Sarl.

Clifford Chance Paris lawyers on the transaction were Alexandre Lagarrigue (Partner) and Jitka Susankova on the structuring of the transaction and tax aspects; Catherine Astor-Veyres (Partner), Justine Souchay  and Sophie Périnot on corporate; as well as  François Bonteil (Partner) and Karen Bortolotti on financing .