Manulife Investment Management has announced a $1.2B US partnership with Scannell Properties and StepStone Real Estate, which will recapitalize 35 newly built class-A industrial properties comprising 10.4 million square feet in 17 U.S. markets.

Financial details of the recapitalization were not released by the partners. The companies also did not identify specific properties involved in the transaction.

"We're pleased to partner with Scannell Properties given their extensive expertise as an industrial developer and their reliability and delivery of high-quality industrial assets," Marc Feliciano, global head of real estate for Manulife Investment Management, said in this week’s announcement.

"This venture represents a key differentiator of the real estate business at Manulife Investment Management – the ability to work with partners to find solutions and create value in challenging environments on behalf of our clients."

Scannell a build-to-suit and spec developer

Scannell Properties develops both build-to-suit and speculative industrial assets across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. 

In 2018, Scannell expanded into Europe, with offices in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. It now has 10 offices globally. 

Since its inception in 1990, Scannell Properties has completed over 530 development projects totalling 150 million square feet for clients which include some of the world's largest life sciences, manufacturing and e-commerce companies.

"We welcome the partnership with Manulife Investment Management, a highly distinguished investment partner," Bob Scannell, the president and founder of Scannell Properties, said in the announcement.

"This significant investment in our portfolio is a clear indication of our strength, stability and leadership in industrial development."

Manulife is based in Toronto, while Scannell is a major Indianapolis-based developer focused on the industrial and life sciences sectors with approximately $5 billion in annual development volume.

StepStone is headquartered in New York City, with offices throughout the U.S., Europe, the APAC region and in Toronto.

"We are delighted to work with StepStone as a strategic partner, and their experience in GP-led transactions played an important role in consummating this exciting venture," Feliciano said in the announcement.

Scannell’s extensive ongoing projects and its pipeline include a series of major U.S. developments, including: 

• a 918,680-square-foot distribution facility under construction for Dollar General in Salem, Ore.;
• a 176-acre industrial park being built in Lakeville, Minn., just outside Minneapolis-St. Paul; 
• a three-building, 700,000-square-foot industrial project near Memphis; and
• an 851,500-square-foot spec building just completed at the sprawling Legacy Park East in Rock Hill, S.C., just outside Charlotte.

"Fundamentals within the industrial sector remain strong; we see this investment as an important opportunity to capitalize on the current market environment and access a portfolio of assets well-positioned to capture the robust long-term demand for logistics, especially as companies revisit supply chain needs and advancement in automation," Jessica Harrison, head of U.S. acquisitions and capital markets, real estate, for Manulife Investment Management, said in the release. 

"Our team will work closely with Scannell to further create value and execute the business plan of the portfolio, which is to complete construction, lease-up of the remaining vacancy and execute financing and disposition strategies upon stabilization."

Manulife Investment Management's real estate platform provides a diverse range of global investment solutions.

Its platform offers core, core-plus, value-add and opportunistic strategies spanning over 74.7 million square feet of office, industrial, retail and multifamily assets strategically across Canada, the U.S., and the Asia Pacific.