GARBE was founded in Hamburg in 1965, and has evolved into one of Europe’s leading real estate companies in the years since. The corporate strategy, “sheds, beds & infrastructure”, follows an active 360-degree approach across the three holding companies: GARBE Industrial, GARBE Reside, and GARBE Infrastructure. This approach allows the company to cover the entire value chain of a property as developer, operator, and investor across asset classes.
GARBEs expertise spans project development, fund and investment management as well as asset and property management. The company has been providing these management services in the field of logistics and corporate real estate for 60 years for a variety of different, predominantly regulated investment vehicles and mandates such as separate accounts, commingled funds and joint ventures primarily for institutional investors with German and European investments.
The company is committed to its guiding principle of balancing ecology with economy, this is called sustainonomics (https://www.garbe.de/en/sustainonomics/). The focus is on sector-specific expertise, decentralised operations, and a pan-European approach. GARBE aims to deliver maximum value to its tenants and investors through active asset management. Today, the company employs around 600 experts in 20 branch offices across 13 countries to develop and manage more than EUR 15 billion worth of assets under management.
GARBE Industrial Real Estate belongs, together with GARBE Insite (Light Industrial), GRR GARBE Retail (grocery retailing) and NDC GARBE (data center) to GARBE Industrial. The goal is to build a fully integrated platform that spans the entire industrial value chain — from production to the end customer. GARBE Industrial Real Estate drives the “sheds” component of the “sheds, beds & infrastructure” strategy, leveraging its leading market position in industrial and logistics real estate.
GARBE Industrial Real Estate: Sector forecasts
INDUSTRY: Germany
Logistics properties have been among the most favoured real estate asset classes in Germany for several years. Demand has increased sharply, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly due to the challenges that have arisen for global supply chains. The war in Ukraine, the Middle East and other regional conflicts have further increased uncertainties for global trade. Due to the strong expansion during the pandemic and the significant changes in the operating environment, companies are increasingly reluctant to lease new logistics space. Accordingly, take-up of space has declined and reached 77 percent of the ten-year average in the first three quarters of 2024.
Despite the lower demand, however, the logistics real estate market in Germany remains largely robust. The vacancy rate is still very low, especially in the top markets, where scarcity is still present. The dynamic rental growth of recent years has given way to a stable to moderate trend. In terms of the demand structure by sector, trade stands out and is currently on the road to recovery after record volumes during the COVID-19 crisis. Industry/Manufacturing still has the highest take-up, with a share of 37 percent of all sectors.
While the transaction volume still fell short of the long-term average during the first nine months of 2024, it did exceed last year’s figure. Especially portfolio transactions are gaining in significance in this context. The ongoing effects of the current interest rate rally have led to a substantial decompression. At mid-year, yield levels in the top logistics markets ranged from 4.9 to 5.0 percent. Yield rates in logistics regions beyond the top markets varied between 5.0 and 6.0 percent. For the rest of the year a stable sideways movement of yield rates is expected, with investment activities assumed to grow on a low level.
Europe
The market situation in other European countries mirrors that of Germany to a significant extent and is characterized by declining yields across almost all markets, a shortage of space in many locations, rent growth and increasing financing costs. However, the initial circumstances and dynamics vary, thus a pan-European investment strategy based on further rent growth and favourable access factors is poised to offer lucrative opportunities. Certain portions of previously outsourced production are being relocated to Europe.
The already dominant role of ecommerce is further bolstered by the entry of new players such as Temu and TikTok; moreover, this market remains underdeveloped in many countries but is anticipated to catch up in the future. Southern and Eastern Europe, former peripheral markets, emerge as ideal locations due to better space availability and lower energy and labour costs. Nevertheless, established core markets will continue to be in demand owing to their proximity to sales markets.
Investment principles & strategy
Leading platform in Germany:
GARBE Industrial is one of the leading investment and asset managers in the logistics and industrial sector. With over 300 employees across 17 locations in Europe, the company manages more than 230 properties with 7.1 million square meters of lettable space and a large number of project developments. Its assets under management (AUM) total up to €11 billion, reflecting a first-class track record.
Fully integrated 360-degree management approach:
GARBE Industrial offers market leading expertise across all value added areas in the fields of project development, investment management, asset management, including property, fund and portfolio management, with extensive market knowledge and a broad network, the company maintains strong, longstanding relationships with key stakeholders, including regional and international tenants, brokerage houses, asset and portfolio owners, banks/financiers, as well as authorities.
Excellent access to investment opportunities and reliable execution:
Through a local boots-on-the-ground approach and deep market networks, experienced employees and teams ensure excellent access to investment opportunities by maintaining strong relationships with longstanding local, supraregional and international partners—including tenants, brokers, asset owners and banks. These connections form an important pillar of the continuous deal flow, preferably off-market.
Comprehensive experience in regulated fund, portfolio, investment and asset management for industrial and corporate real estate:
GARBE Industrial has been managing real estate assets in regulated real estate special AIFs for institutional and professional investors for around 20 years.
Sustainability and ESG have been an integral part of the organisation, decision-making, and processes for more than a decade. The impact of the business activities on the environment and society is a key element of the corporate culture, connecting actions to environmental and social responsibilities.
GARBE Industrial has an efficient organisation and can implement decisions and solutions for investors flexibly.
Strategic corporate development
As a proven specialist and market-leading platform for logistics and industrial real estate in Germany and Europe, GARBE Industrial will continue to focus on these segments throughout Europe and further expand its growth strategy and activities in Europe. Within this framework, the company continuously develops attractive real estate projects and rental space offers for tenants, as well as actively managed investment strategies and fund solutions for their investors. With the local boots-on-the-ground approach across Europe and by leveraging the well-resourced, dedicated responsible investing teams, GARBE Industrial aims to increase the number of ESG, sustainable and impact strategies to meet the increasing demand from the clients.
Performance verification
GARBE Industrial has achieved excellent results for its investors in the past, depending on the investment strategy chosen in each case. The team is happy to provide further information about the performance and how the company achieved it in a personal conversation.
COMPLIANCE STATEMENT
GARBE Industrial Real Estate GmbH has compiled the contents of this information with care. Despite all due care, the data and content may have changed in the meantime. Therefore, GARBE Industrial Real Estate GmbH does not assume any liability or guarantee for the timeliness, accuracy and completeness of the information provided. Excluded from this is the liability for own gross negligence or intent. As far as the information contains forward-looking statements, these are based on current estimates and assumptions made by GARBE Industrial Real Estate GmbH and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause a forward-looking estimate or statement to be subject to certain uncertainties and to change.
