Photo of Industrial Facility with Hydraulic Cylinders

Sale-leaseback of industrial portfolio in Germany

Global engineering and manufacturing specialist

Sale-leaseback closed in conjunction with PE firm’s acquisition of the company

Tenant Description: A global engineering and manufacturing specialist
Square Footage: 669,000 square feet (62,000 square meters)
Transaction Type: Sale-leaseback*
Location: Germany  
Facility Type: 4 industrial facilities

W. P. Carey completed the sale-leaseback of four industrial facilities in Germany. Totaling 669,000 square feet, the portfolio is net leased to a global engineering and manufacturing specialist.

The sale-leaseback closed in conjunction with a private equity firm’s acquisition of the company. Proceeds from the transaction were used to reduce the purchase price, highlighting the growing role of sale-leasebacks in helping private equity sponsors unlock immediate capital for M&A.  

The portfolio is mission critical to the tenant and is responsible for producing products that comprise the vast majority of the company’s revenue. The four facilities house critical machinery that would be costly to replicate.

It is subject to a 25-year, triple-net master lease with German CPI-based rent increases.

*In a sale-leaseback, a company sells its real estate to an investor like W. P. Carey for cash and simultaneously enters into a long-term lease. In doing so, the company extracts 100% of the property’s value and converts an otherwise illiquid asset into working capital to reinvest in its business or pay down debt, while maintaining operational control.

We are delighted to expand our presence in Germany, where we continue to see attractive opportunities to invest in high-quality manufacturing and logistics assets. Structural pressure in energy-intensive and export-oriented industries, combined with tighter lending conditions, are now driving greater demand for flexible, long-term capital solutions. In this environment, sale-leasebacks are increasingly playing a critical role in supporting private equity-led M&A activity, and as an experienced, all-equity investor, we are uniquely positioned to provide execution certainty and strategic capital to help facilitate these transactions.

Christopher Mertlitz, Head of European Investments at W. P. Carey