Palmer Capital has completed the sale of its Big Orange Self Storage (BOSS) fund portfolio to Asian buyers for USD136m.
One asset has been sold to a local Chinese investor for HKD498,000,000 (USD64.2m).
The BOSS operating business and the four remaining Singapore assets have been sold for SGD90.5m (USD71.2m) to an Asian trade buyer.
The BOSS Fund was launched in 2009 as a joint venture between the Invista International Fund and Oak Hill (the US private equity firm). The fund was the first co-mingled self-storage fund launched in Asia.
The sale sees the conclusion of Palmer Capital’s Asian strategy for Invista, following its takeover of the Invista business in July last year.
With the acquisition of Invista, Palmer Capital took over the management of BOSS. At the time, the portfolio comprised five assets (one in Hong Kong and four in Singapore) valued at USD96m (Cushman & Wakefield 30 September 2011).
Alex Price, chief executive of Palmer Capital in London, says: “In under 12 months, we have crystallised an IRR of 24 per cent for investors in BOSS. The secret of our success has been a very experienced team with an expert knowledge of the local markets and the self storage industry and a carefully managed competitive sales process that we managed internally with a select number of pre-qualified buyers. These sales continue the successful process of winding down the overall Invista business.”
Simon Tyrrell, managing director of Palmer Capital Asia in Hong Kong, adds: “In Asia, self-storage is a very niche sector with little or no institutional investment. The sector as a whole is highly fragmented and is dominated by private investors. This played to our strengths and enabled us to filter a total of nine bidders down to two and then one, to secure the best price for our investors.”
