Arcapita and Shurgard formed their first joint venture to develop self-storage in 2003, and since then, have built a total portfolio of 72 self-storage facilities, representing almost 4 million square feet of storage space in 7 European countries.
“The investments have benefited from their geographic diversity and their limited exposure to the slower performers amongst the European economies. The economic downturn presented a number of challenges, but the real estate group has worked closely with our joint venture partner at the portfolio level to protect the interests of our investors,” said Atif A. Abdulmalik, Arcapita’s Chief Executive Officer.
This is the third exit that Arcapita’s real estate division has completed in six months, representing a total transaction value of more than $2.1 billion, and providing evidence of the improving sentiment.
“In each of our asset classes, confidence is growing in both the operating environment and the market outlook. As a result, our pipeline of pending exits is increasing steadily, and we expect to deliver a continued flow of proceeds to our investors as we selectively harvest the portfolio. In addition, although investors remain discerning, our deal teams are reporting a far more appealing environment for new transactions, and our investors are matching this with increasing allocations for new investments,” added Abdulmalik.
Arcapita recently announced the results of the first six months of its current financial year, reporting a net income of $34 million for the six months to December 31, 2010.