Sirius

 

Introduction

Sirius continues to operate largely in Germany where it owns and manages a well-diversified portfolio of mature business park assets, as well as those where there is an opportunity to add value through asset management. This year the Company also acquired BizSpace, a leading provider of regional flexible workspace across the UK, offering light industrial, workshop, studio and office units to a wide range of businesses. The acquisition complements Sirius’ existing platform and allows for meaningful operational and financial synergies. Sirius’ portfolio in the UK and Germany continues to increase in size through a combination of organic and acquisitive growth underpinned by the Company’s internal operating platform.

In Germany, the primary focus is to build a “critical mass” around its “big seven” cities of: Berlin, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Munich. The Company has a secondary focus on a selection of key border towns where we can reap the benefits of markets on both sides of the border and the periphery of the “big seven” cities. The Company provides in the region of 1.8 million sqm of manufacturing, storage and office space. To maximise the utilisation of space, Sirius has developed a range of high-yielding products including serviced offices, self-storage and workboxes which have their own Smartspace brand and are particularly popular with tenants seeking flexible solutions to their accommodation needs. The products are usually created through investment into space that other owners may regard as a structurally void and then using the capability of the in-house sales and marketing teams to let these at premium rental rates. The Company’s tenant base is diverse ranging from multinational corporations and government agencies to SMEs within the German Mittelstand and individual tenants.

In the UK, BizSpace is a leading provider of regional flexible workspace. Offering office, studio and workshop units to a wide range of businesses in convenient regional locations. The Company provides in the region of 4.3 million sq. ft across 72 sites. The business provides Sirius with a unique opportunity to enter, at scale, an under-served wider UK market with the one-step acquisition of an established platform. Additionally, it provides Sirius with a high-quality portfolio in a supply constrained market and offers significant organic growth potential in rental pricing. BizSpace’s tenant base is similarly diverse, ranging from multinational businesses to manufacturing-focused SMEs and individual tenants.

 

The German market

Germany remains comfortably the largest economy in the European Union and the fourth largest in the world after the USA, China and Japan. It has maintained its reputation as an industrial powerhouse with a strong export-focused economy characterised by low unemployment. Relative to many other European economies Germany performed well through the Covid-19 crisis and, notwithstanding the impact of recent events in Ukraine and related economic effects, is projected to grow strongly in 2022. At the time of writing, which was before the material escalation of events in Ukraine, the OECD predicted 4.1% GDP growth in 2022 and a further 2.4% in 2023.[1] It expects a strong potential rebound in manufacturing if supply restraints begin to recede, with interest rates and unemployment projected to remain relatively low. Following more recent events in the Ukraine it is clear forecasts of economic growth will need to be revisited with many commentators pointing to significant inflationary pressure particularly in relation to utilities and the likelihood of interest rate increases.

Commercial real estate transaction volumes in Germany in 2021 were €64.1 billion according to BNP Paribas; this is the second highest year recorded, which demonstrates remarkable underlying resilience given the disruptive factors the market faced in 2021 such as supply bottlenecks for primary products, the rise in inflation and the ongoing challenges presented by Covid-19 and the conflict in Ukraine. Once again, the majority of sales volume was registered in and around Germany’s seven major cities (Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich and Stuttgart), totalling €37.1 billion, exceeding the prior year by 14%. Unsurprisingly Berlin leads the way with €11.2 billion invested, the second highest total on record and up 25% on the previous year. Munich follows with €7.7 billion recorded, up 53% on the previous year. Frankfurt follows in third place with just under €6.7 billion, roughly similar to the previous year. Cologne recorded the strongest growth, up 182% to €3.8 billion. In contrast there were declines on the previous year’s performance in Hamburg at €3.1 billion (-43%) and Düsseldorf at €2.4 billion (-34%). Looking at investment types, offices remained the top performer, with approximately €30.7 billion of investments; around 48% of transaction volume is attributable to this class. Logistics properties followed with a volume of just under €9.9 billion; this is an increase of almost 25% on 2020, setting an all-time high. Foreign investors were responsible for around €24.8 billion of capital investment, around 39% of total investment levels – at a similar level to last year.[2]

Looking closely at economic data examining Germany’s so called “Unternehmensimmobilien” – a distinct asset class of German multi-use and multi-let commercial properties, that is home to the heart of the Germany economy – we can see a strong recovery in the sector in the first half of 2021. A new record was set in H1 with an investment volume of around €2.9 billion, an increase of 87% compared with the previous half year. Some of this activity was likely due to a “catch-up effect” from the previous year’s disruption. Looking at the different categories that make up the Unternehmensimmobilien we can see that business parks are the most in-demand category, accounting for a significant 48% of total volume. Light manufacturing properties are the second most in-demand category, at 23%; notably this is the only property type among the Unternehmensimmobilien that can point to a volume of take-up in the first half of the year that is above the average of the past five years, exceeding it by around 16%. Demand for warehouse properties was much lower, at just 4,000 sqm. Looking at specific sectors more closely we can see that manufacturing remained an extremely important driver of demand for space, demonstrating the robustness of the sector. Accounting for 30% of total take-up, exceeding its average by around 9%. Some clear regional trends emerged in the first half of 2021. Munich and the surrounding area accounted for one-third of the total transaction volume with €934 million. The Rhine-Ruhr conurbation follows, accounting for €378 million in volume, and the West region registered the third highest volume at €375 million.[3] The Unternehmensimmobilien has been resilient as an asset class during past major economic events and recessions and appears to have maintained resilience through Covid-19 too. This is due to multiple factors such as the flexibility and diversity inbuilt within multi-tenanted business parks, the tendency for companies engaged in production and manufacturing to respond to economic contractions by reducing output rather than space and the depth of the Mittelstand market – these factors all contribute to the ongoing growth and stability of the asset class.

The UK market

The UK economy bounced back strongly in 2021 with growth registered at 7.5%, despite falling back in December due to new restrictions to manage the Omicron variant. Prior to the escalation of events in Ukraine, the OECD pointed to the UK economy growing by a further 4.7% in 2022 with business investment set to improve when compared to recent years as the country adapts to the new post-Brexit environment.[4] The OECD pointed to unemployment continuing to fall, and inflation is set to slow, heading back towards the 2% target by the end of 2023. Following more recent events in Ukraine it is clear forecasts of economic growth will need to be revisited, with many commentators pointing to significant inflationary pressure particularly in relation to utilities and the likelihood of interest rate increases.

As a result the prospects for growth in the commercial real estate sector and in the UK regions remain uncertain despite supply constraints due to a lack of land and increased building costs driving rental growth. Looking back to 2021, quarter four of 2021 saw commercial property in the United Kingdom record its best single-quarter total return since quarter four of 2009. A quarterly return of 6.3% drove the rolling annual total return of the MSCI UK Quarterly Property Index to 16.5%, a six year high. However, while previous cyclical upswings saw the main property sectors move in relative unison, the current cycle is largely driven by the strength of industrial property. Of the 16.5% annual index return, 12.9% could be attributed to the industrial sector courtesy of a 36.4% total return. Yield compression was the main driver of industrial outperformance as its equivalent yield effectively halved in ten years as it strengthened to 4.2% at the end of 2021 from 8.4% in quarter four of 2011. The combined impact of a strengthening yield and rental growth saw industrial become the largest sector by value in the Index at 35%, up 2.3x over ten years.[5] In its 2022 cross-sector outlook published prior to the escalation of events in Ukraine and agnostic of the related economic impact, Savills also noted that regional office markets saw upward pressure on pricing in 2021 and it expects this to continue into 2022 and beyond, noting that some regional office markets look undersupplied.[6]

 

[1] https://www.oecd.org/economy/united-kingdom-economic-snapshot/

[2] https://www.commercialsearch.com/news/uk-industrial-propertysurged-in-2021-as-median-total-return-topped-30/.

[3] https://www.savills.com/research_articles/255800/323301-0

[4] https://www.oecd.org/economy/germany-economic-snapshot/

[5] https://www.realestate.bnpparibas.de/en/market-reports/ investment-market/germany-at-a-glance.

[6]https://initiative.bulwiengesa.de/unternehmensimmobilien/sites/default/files/2021-11/IUI_Marktbericht15_20211109.pdf

 

In this section

Important

Please select the country of your residency:

By clicking the "Submit" button you certify that you are resident in the selected country.

Important

Please enter the telephone country code of the selected country:

By clicking the "Submit" button you certify that you are resident in the selected country.

Disclaimer - Important

TERMS OF ACCESS TO INFORMATION ABOUT A PROPOSED OFFERING (THE "TRANSACTION") BY SIRIUS REAL ESTATE LIMITED (THE "COMPANY")


Please read this notice carefully - it applies to all persons who view this site and, depending on where you are located, may affect your rights or responsibilities. The Company reserves the right to amend or update this notice at any time and you should, therefore, read it in full each time you visit the site. In addition, the contents of this part of the website may be amended at any time, in whole or in part, at the sole discretion of the Company.

The materials you seek to access are made available in good faith and for information purposes only and are subject to the terms and conditions set out below. Any person seeking to access this webpage represents and warrants to the Company that they are doing so for information purposes only and they agree to be bound by the terms and condition set out below. If you do not agree to the terms and conditions please exit this site by clicking "I disagree" box below.

Viewing the materials you seek to access may not be lawful in certain jurisdictions. In other jurisdictions, only certain categories of person may be allowed to view such materials. Any person who wishes to view these materials must first satisfy themselves that they are not subject to any local requirements that prohibit or restrict them from doing so. Any failure to comply with any such restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws or regulations of such jurisdiction.

The information contained in this part of the website does not constitute an offer of securities for sale or subscription or any solicitation for any offer to buy or subscribe for any securities in the United States, Australia, New Zealand Canada, and Japan and South Africa or any other jurisdiction if to do so would constitute a violation of the relevant laws of, or require registration thereunder in, such jurisdiction (each a "Restricted Jurisdiction"). If you are located or resident in the United States or any other Restricted Jurisdiction, please exit this webpage by clicking on the "I disagree" box below.

The information to which this gatepost gives access is intended exclusively for persons who are not residents of the United States and who are not physically located in the United States. The information contained in this part of the website does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, securities in the United States. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, or with any securities regulatory authority of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States, and may not be offered, sold, resold, transferred, delivered or distributed, directly or indirectly, in any form, in or into, the United States, except pursuant to an applicable exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements under the Securities Act and in compliance with any applicable securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States. No public offering or sale of securities in the United States will be made.

You should not download, mail, forward, distribute, send or show the information or documents contained on this part of the website to any person. The information contained in this part of the website, including any material you may access, is not to be provided by you to any other person, in electronic form or otherwise, and is not to be accessed, published, copied, forwarded or otherwise disseminated in or into the United States.

Any securities referred to in the materials that follow will not be registered under the securities laws of any Restricted Jurisdiction and may be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, within such jurisdictions only pursuant to an applicable exemption from and in compliance with any applicable securities laws.

Members of the public are not eligible to take part in the placing. These materials are only addressed to and directed at: (i) persons in Member States of the European Economic Area (the "EEA") who are qualified investors within the meaning of article 2(e) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 and (ii) persons in the United Kingdom who are qualified investors within the meaning of article 2(e) of Regulation EU) 2017/1129 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 who are: (a) persons who have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling within the definition of “investment professionals” in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the "Order") or (b) are persons falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) (“high net worth companies, unincorporated associations, etc”) of the Order; and (c) other persons to whom this communication may lawfully be communicated (all such persons in (a), (b) and (c) above together being referred to as "relevant persons"). The securities described in the materials are only available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such securities will be engaged in only with, Qualified Investors in any Member State of the EEA and relevant persons in the United Kingdom. Any person in any Member State of the EEA who is not a Qualified Investor and any person in the United Kingdom who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on the materials or any of their contents.

If you are not permitted to view materials on this webpage or are in any doubt as to whether you are permitted to view these materials, please exit this webpage by clicking on the “I disagree” box below.

By proceeding, you agree to comply with the terms set out above and confirm that you are a resident of the country you identified earlier who is accessing this website from within that country, and you additionally represent, warrant and agree that:
  1. You are not accessing this website from within the United States or any other Restricted Jurisdiction;
  2. You will not print, download, or otherwise seek to copy, mail, forward, distribute or send any of the materials on this webpage to any other person at any time; and
  3. You intend to access this webpage for information purposes only and that you have read and understood the disclaimer set out above and are permitted to proceed to electronic versions of the materials.

 

No Access

We regret that, due to applicable legal restrictions, we are unable to provide you with access to the requested content. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.