Blackbrook launches with more than €1 billion of committed capital to target mission-critical commercial real estate in Europe
Arvi Luoma, formerly of W. P. Carey and Gordon DuGan, formerly of Gramercy Property Trust, join forces to launch new venture
LONDON – 3rd March 2020 – Blackbrook Capital (Blackbrook), a European independent real estate investment firm focusing on mission-critical commercial property, has launched today with more than €1 billion of committed capital. The firm has been founded by Gordon DuGan as Chairman, and Arvi Luoma as CEO.
The firm specialises in the acquisition of net-leased industrial real estate assets, and the provision of structured corporate Sale-Leaseback and Build to Suit development financing in Europe. Blackbrook’s primary focus is on industrial assets including logistics, light manufacturing, cold storage and similar assets used in the distribution and delivery of goods throughout Europe, as well as healthcare, hospitality, strategic office and specialty retail assets.
With more than €1 billion of readily available capital, Blackbrook can take a flexible and efficient approach to working with corporate tenants and investment counterparties, putting the business in a strong position to execute quickly and become a reliable capital source for tenants and corporate occupiers.
Arvi Luoma, CEO, commented: “We believe that commercial real estate owners and occupiers are better served investing their capital in their core business activities and growth initiatives, rather than tying up valuable capital in real estate assets. Our investment approach is geared towards helping our tenants do just that, and give them ability to grow their businesses and improve their assets by extracting value.”
“Today that can often mean a drive to transition businesses and real estate portfolios towards a greener and more sustainable future. Blackbrook is also focused on being part of that transition with our tenants,” continued Luoma.
“We believe that there are inefficiencies available in the European property market for Blackbrook to generate attractive returns,” added Gordon DuGan, Chairman. “We hope to replicate the success of our own track records with a best-in-class investment firm that we are launching today. We are very excited about the dynamics of the European market that we are looking to address, and the prospects that lay ahead of us.”
Gordon DuGan has more than 25 years of real estate investment experience and is focused on the overall strategic direction of Blackbrook Capital. He was previously CEO of Gramercy Property Trust, a global investor in single-tenant industrial properties acquired by Blackstone for $7.6 billion in 2018. As part of Gramercy Property Trust, Gordon founded Gramercy Europe, which acquired more than €1 billion of industrial assets across Europe. Previously, Gordon was CEO of W. P. Carey where he oversaw the growth of the company to more than $10 billion AuM and established the European business.
Arvi Luoma previously spent 14 years at W. P. Carey where he served as Managing Director, Head of European Investments. His investment experience extends to more than €4 billion of sale-leaseback, build to suit and net lease acquisitions in 20 countries and across all major asset classes including industrial, logistics, office, retail, healthcare and hospitality.
Blackbrook is a partnership between its Chairman, CEO and Eldridge Industries, a global investment firm.
Blackbrook’s investment approach will focus on the following products:
- Net Lease Real Estate: investing in single-tenant “net lease” or “long-income” commercial real estate assets where there is long-term value in the property and in developing a partnership with the occupier.
- Build to Suit Financing: funding construction and development costs of new mission-critical real estate required for business growth.
- Sale-Leaseback Financing: structuring bespoke sale-leaseback solutions for companies of all sizes, both investment- and sub-investment grade, public and private, and across multiple industries.