The £11bn asset manager announced last month that it intended to raise £250m by floating the trust on the London Stock Exchange during the second week of December.
It is the first investment trust launched under the merged fund group’s Aberdeen Standard Investments moniker.
The investment company aims to “tap into the rapid growth of e-commerce across Europe” by targeting a range of logistics companies, from “big box” style warehouses to local “last mile” distribution centres, according to the firm.
At present, Aberdeen Standard Investments is the second largest European real estate investment manager and currently manages and invests in over 144 logistics properties worth €2.6bn (£2.29bn) across 10 European countries.
This year has seen fewer IPOs than previous years, despite the fact that equity markets across the globe have reached record highs and volatility has remained low.
In the first three quarters of 2017, there have been about 50 IPOs in the UK, according to big four accountancy firm Ernst & Young. By comparison, there were 54 initial offerings across London’s main and Alternative Investment Market (Aim) markets for the whole of 2016, a year which was rocked by several major politically turbulent events.
As previously stated, the Aberdeen Standard Investments European Logistics Income will target a distribution yield of 5.5% per annum and a total return for investors of 7.5% per annum, both in euro terms. The proceeds from the IPO are expected to be fully invested within 12 months, the firm has said.
Evert Castelein, a fund manager based in the firm’s Amsterdam office, will oversee the investment company with assistance from UK and German-headquartered managers, Ross Braithwaite and Attila Molnar, and Andrew Allen, global head of real estate investment research, who is based in London.
New name, new trust
Commenting on the IPO, Martin Gilbert, co-chief executive, said: “This is the first investment trust launch by Aberdeen Standard Investments and to have raised £187.5m is an excellent result and delivers a strong platform from which we can grow this exciting asset class.
“Our discussions with a broad range of investors had led us to believe that long-term exposure to income generating logistics assets across Europe within a closed-end structure would have wide appeal and this has proven to be the case with pension funds, multi-asset managers, wealth managers and retail investors subscribing to the issue.”
Pertti Vanhanen, global co-head of Real Estate at Aberdeen Standard Investments, agreed the flotation was “another encouraging development” for the firm’s real estate business, calling the logistics market “central to the future of the e-commerce industry”.
“In the UK, e-commerce has grown rapidly and significantly in recent years,” Vanhanen said. “Europe is growing too but from a lower base and the pace is set to increase as comfort with shopping online grows and big retail brands expand their operations on the continent.
“This is going to lead to more demand for large, specialised warehouses where goods are picked, sorted and distributed together with smaller units on the outskirts of urban centres to fulfil the so-called ‘last mile’ element of delivery.”
The trust will begin trading on 15 December.
