Kirkland-Guided KKR Pays $260 Million for Industrial Properties

Kirkland is mentioned in Law360 regarding the Firm's role in KKR's purchase of two industrial distribution properties.

Represented by Kirkland & Ellis, KKR said Wednesday it paid $260 million for two industrial distribution properties totaling about 2.5 million square feet located in the Midwest and the South.

The asset management giant said in a statement the properties in Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina, are fully leased and were bought from separate sellers, whom it didn't name. Both assets are fulfillment centers, it said.

"We are excited to increase our footprint in these major distribution markets with the addition of two high-quality, stable assets," Roger Morales, KKR partner and head of commercial real estate acquisitions in the Americas, said in the statement.

"We believe that the current environment will lead to continued acceleration of e-commerce penetration which drives demand for large modern distribution centers like the ones we are acquiring," he said.

"Logistics real estate represents a growth opportunity as more and more U.S. consumers migrate to shopping online," Morales said.

KKR owns more than 12 million square feet of industrial property near major urban areas across the country, it said, and its real estate section has $11.8 billion in assets under management across the U.S., Europe and Asia as of March 31.

KKR is represented in the deals by a Kirkland & Ellis LLP team including David Rosenberg, Andrew Small, Conrad Steele, Robin Basu and Nataly Yosef. 

A spokesperson for KKR declined to comment Wednesday on the identity of the sellers of the properties and the current tenants in them.