Safestore Holdings PLC on Tuesday said it has entered a new joint venture to acquire and subsequently manage an Italian self-storage company.
The Hertfordshire, England-based self-storage provider has set up the 50/50 joint venture with investment manager Nuveen Real Estate, to acquire Easybox Self Storage SRL for €175 million.
Easybox, Safestore said, is Italy’s second-largest self-storage operator by number of stores with ten loicated across the country’s main economic centres as well as two turn-key developments.
Safestore said it will initially invest approximately €45 million for its share of the JV. It expects this to have a 0.3 pence negative earnings per share impact in financial 2025, but to be earnings per share accretive in financial 2027 ‘as the newly developed stores mature’.
The existing Easybox stores ‘have strong trading track records’, Safestore said, adding that they ‘are modern and fitted out to high specifications’. The turn-key developments are set for delivery in the first half of 2025.
‘Italy is a nascent market for self-storage facilities, with the lowest supply of self-storage space per capita in Western Europe... there are only two self-storage stores per one million people in Italy with just 0.02 [square feet] of self-storage space per capita,’ Safestore commented. ‘This creates a great opportunity for expansion within the sector in one of Europe’s largest economies.’
‘The acquisition of Easybox provides us and our joint venture partner Nuveen a foothold in one of Europe’s most under-penetrated self-storage markets,’ said Safestore Chief Executive Officer Frederic Vecchioli. ‘The high-quality Easybox portfolio will enable us to leverage our management expertise and delivers on our strategic aims to expand our portfolio into attractive new geographies.
‘In line with our investment criteria, it is projected to generate 10% cash-on-cash returns on stabilisation.’
Shares in Safestore were 0.3% higher at 654.00p on Tuesday in London.
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