Blackstone Group Inc. has created a new company called Mileway to hold its European last-mile warehouse properties totaling more than 9 million square meters.
London's Financial Times reported that the private equity giant created the new €8 billion company with a view to possibly selling or listing it in about two years.
Blackstone's move is a wager on the increased economic role of e-commerce and last-mile centers located in and around major cities that are utilized by tenants ranging from online retail giant Amazon.com Inc. to food delivery services, the publication reported. Earlier in 2019, Blackstone agreed to buy a U.S. industrial portfolio from Singapore's GLP Pte. Ltd. for $18.7 billion.
The Mileway portfolio includes assets in the U.K., Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands and the Nordics, and the company intends to expand the portfolio in existing and new markets. The company is the largest owner of last mile logistics real estate assets in Europe with about 1,000 properties across eight European economies, Blackstone said in a release.
Emmanuel Van der Stichele was appointed chief executive of Mileway. He was previously fund director at the Goodman European Logistics Fund.
Dominiek Van Oost was appointed COO, and Thomas ten Bokum was named head of investment and portfolio management.
Mileway is headquartered in Amsterdam and has more than 150 employees across its markets.
Blackstone previously assembled a pan-European logistics platform, Logicor, and sold it for €12.25 billion in 2017 after considering options including an IPO.
