Bahraini investment firm Arcapita Bank sold its 80 percent interest in two self-storage portfolios comprising 72 facilities to Shurgard Europe, the owner of the remaining 20 percent, for 412 million euros (approximately $586 million). Arcapita and Shurgard formed their first joint venture to develop self-storage in 2003, and since then, have built almost 4 million square feet of storage space in seven European countries.
The investments have benefited from their geographic diversity and their limited exposure to the slower performers amongst the European economies, said Atif A. Abdulmalik, Arcapitas CEO. The economic downturn presented a number of challenges, but the real estate group has worked closely with our joint venture partner at the portfolio level to protect the interests of our investors.
Established in 1997, Arcapita operates out of offices in Atlanta, Bahrain, London and Singapore. Seventy percent of the banks paid-in capital of $311 million is held by approximately 300 prominent individuals and institutions, mostly from the Arabian Gulf region. The bank has completed investments with a total transaction value of more than $28 billion in its four lines of business: private equity, real estate, infrastructure and venture capital. Arcapita recently announced the financial results of the six months ending Dec. 31, 2010, reporting a net income of $34 million.
Based in Brussels, Shurgard Europe operates self-storage facilities in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The company has been active in Europe since 1995.
