Pramerica Real Estate Investors, the European arm of Prudential Financial Inc., made a 15 million investment in the Spanish self-storage operator Blue Self Storage S.L., known as Bluespace. Bluespace will use the money to expand and consolidate its operations in the greater Barcelona and Valencia regions, as well as to finance its entry into the Madrid market. The company currently operates three sites in Barcelona. In Valencia, it operates one site and has plans for another.
Bluespace founders Alexander Ruckensteiner and Arnaud Ripert were pioneers in introducing self-storage to Spanish consumers, opening their first site in Hospitalet, Barcelona, in October 2002. Pramerica has been investing in self-storage since 1998, when its U.S. merchant banking team formed a joint venture with Extra Space Storage. The company has endowed $500 million in the self-storage sector worldwide, including a U.K. venture with Big Yellow PLC. Recently, it committed $1.5 billion in a joint venture with Extra Space to acquire Storage USA. For more information, visit www.pramericarei.com.