Forsters advises Barwood Capital and Invesco Real Estate on the acquisition of two proposed industrial and logistics schemes

Commercial Real Estate Partner, Victoria Towers, led a team advising a new partnership between Barwood Capital ("Barwood") and Invesco Real Estate ("Invesco") on the acquisition of its first two assets in a proposed portfolio of urban/last mile industrial and logistics warehouses.

Working with Victoria, Senior Associate, Ed Glass assisted on the purchase of the Manchester site, and Commercial Real Estate Partner, Jade Capper on the Coventry acquisition.

The first property to be purchased by the joint venture is a 4 acre site on Manchester’s Trafford Retail Park, with the second being located in Coventry, close to Junction 3 of the M6. Consent for the 5.25 acre Coventry scheme has already been secured and construction is due to start in July 2022. The combined GDV of the sites is expected to be c.£300m. As part of Invesco’s net zero objectives, the sites will be developed with the firm’s proprietary ESG checklist and criteria in mind.

Edward Henson, Director and Head of Transactions at Barwood, said: “Demand for industrial space remains strong across the UK regions and our partnership with Invesco allows us to use our combined expertise to unlock development and asset management opportunities and capture the supply/demand imbalance that exists in key locations.”

Rob Johnston, Head of UK and Nordic Real Estate Transactions at Invesco, added: “We have a strong pipeline of further opportunities as we work towards our aim to create a portfolio of 6-8 schemes, with an AUM of around £300m.”