Independent pan-European real estate investment manager Vengrove has acquired two mid-box logistics properties in the West Midlands and North West of England for £25 million.
The assets, spanning almost 200,000ft², were acquired from an institutional vendor for VRE Evergreen Logistics Partners (VREELP), which manages Vengrove’s portfolio across the UK, Germany and France.
The acquisition includes two self-contained mid-box units at Rabone Park in Smethwick, totalling almost 68,000ft², and three fully let units at Stone Cross Park in Warrington, totalling 129,236ft².
The deal further strengthens Vengrove’s position as one of Europe’s few remaining independent specialists in industrial and logistics investment.
Vengrove operates a unique integrated model, managing its own teams, holding stakes in the operating companies that manage its assets and dealing directly with occupiers. The approach provides a high level of vertical integration across the business, giving an operational value that is larger than traditional allocator models.
Around half of the income from the newly acquired assets is subject to a lease event within the next three years. Vengrove’s in-house asset and property teams plan to capture rental reversion, regear leases and undertake sustainability upgrades in line with the strategy’s ESG targets, with the aim of transforming the assets into institutional-grade logistics properties.
Keeping these functions in-house rather than outsourcing them provides institutional investors with closer oversight, tighter risk management and consistent governance at both asset and portfolio level.
Will Hunting, partner and head of European acquisitions at Vengrove, said: “Ownership across the sector has consolidated to the point where there are now very few genuinely independent pan-European managers left, and that scarcity allows our strengths to shine. Vengrove is nimble enough to move quickly, with the institutional backing and governance that capital partners increasingly expect. We are putting that to work across all of our core European markets.”
According to JLL, speculative development of mid-box and multi-let industrial space is running at almost one-third below its long-term average. Vengrove said these supply constraints are supporting demand for well-located assets, particularly across the North West and the Midlands.
