Nuveen Real Estate, an American asset manager and subsidiary of financial-planning firm TIAA Investments, has entered the European self-storage sector with the purchase of a majority interest in Green Storage in Greater Stockholm, Sweden. The seller, Green Group, will retain a minority interest in the portfolio that includes 14 facilities, six of which are under development, according to the source.

“Nuveen is focused on expanding into the real estate alternative sectors, with self-storage considered one of the winning subsectors in Europe given low levels of supply, proven resilience during times of volatility, and scope to drive efficiencies by creating a digitalized platform of scale,” said Jasper Gilbey, head of the general accounts real estate portfolio in Europe for TIAA. “We believe that Green Storage represents an excellent entry into the competitive European storage market given the quality of the portfolio that has been created to date, strong track record of the management team and the unique tech-focused strategy.”

“The platform that we have created widely exceeds the standard [key performance indicators] for the self-storage industry and, from our perspective, it feels natural to join forces with Nuveen to bring this successful business out to the rest of Europe,” said Green Group CEO Niklas Borg. “It is our firm belief that a new majority owner, bringing with them extensive experience in the field and additional capital backing, is the right step to take the Green Storage platform to more cities in Sweden as well as the European market.”

Nuveen manages more than 2,000 real estate investments worldwide, with $138 billion of assets under management.

Source:
IPE Real Assets, Nuveen Enters European Self-Storage Sector, Buys Green Storage