Inmobiliaria Colonial REIT and Stoneshield Capital have partnered in a new joint venture management company to create the leading pan-European Science & Innovation platform. As part of this Colonial is investing €200m into Deeplabs, the market leader in Spain, with 138,000 sqm of workspace and purpose built facilities across three Science and Innovation campuses in Barcelona and Madrid, a large, high quality, diversified tenant base, and an ambition to accelerate pan-European growth.
Colonial and Stoneshield Capital’s joint venture will drive growth through Deeplabs, a leading platform, as part of Colonial’s Urban Transformation strategy. Colonial’s dominant market position in Spain with top-tier S&I campuses in Madrid and Barcelona position it well to lead the European market as the first fully integrated Science & Innovation platform across geographies with first-mover advantage. It will involve the development of prime science ecosystems built to attract world-class talent and high quality, long-term tenants, using third-part capital. Colonial’s investment is expected to generate returns of +15% net IRR, as well as being accretive on EPS and NTA in both the near term and longer term.
Pere Viñolas Serra, Chief Executive Officer of Inmobiliaria Colonial, said: “We have for some time been developing our urban transformation assets, with a view to accelerating growth and returns. Our announcement today is an extension of this strategy, as we continue to position our core office portfolio alongside our faster-growing mixed-use portfolio. There is a significant undersupply of suitable assets in the Science and Innovation sector in Europe, at a time when demand is growing sustainably and rapidly. With existing stock unable to meet demand, and a lack of real estate expertise to develop high quality lab space, there is a significant opportunity to build a pan-European platform to meet high quality, long-term tenant demand. We look forward to working closely with our exceptional partners, Stoneshield Capital and Deeplabs, to fulfill our vision, delivering attractive yields and returns for our shareholders in the process.”
Juan Pepa, Managing Partner and co-Founder of Stoneshield Capital said: “The European security budget is growing from €400bn to €1.2tn by 2026. This unprecedented growth will trigger massive demand from companies for space to innovate, test, manufacture and operate.”
Felipe Morenés Botín, Managing Partner and co-Founder of Stoneshield Capital said: “The need for critical real estate is paramount to deliver Europe’s ambition to innovate in key sectors such as security, health and technology. We want to support governments and companies by providing highly specialized real estate, which will be critical for the companies to innovate and operate successfully.”
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