{"id":1056,"date":"2024-09-13T12:52:38","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T12:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-indurent-group.pantheonsite.io\/?p=1056"},"modified":"2025-02-25T12:09:56","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T12:09:56","slug":"julian-carey-on-combining-the-best-of-both-worlds-at-blackstones-new-logistics-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/live-indurent-group.pantheonsite.io\/2024\/09\/13\/julian-carey-on-combining-the-best-of-both-worlds-at-blackstones-new-logistics-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Julian Carey on combining the best of both worlds at Blackstone’s new logistics company"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n\n
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Recently launched Indurent brings together St Modwen Logistics and Industrials REIT<\/span><\/h3>\n

Julian Carey\u2019s industrial experience started early. As a child, he remembers being taken around industrial estates by his father, Roger Carey, an industry grandee who was managing director at Slough Estates before going on to lead Industrious, which was sold to Brixton in 2004.<\/p>\n

Carey says he tried to avoid following in his father\u2019s footsteps, but after the market recovered following the financial crisis, it became clear that the industrial sector presented a compelling opportunity. Around the same time that Blackstone was also starting to focus more closely on the sector, Carey\u2019s firm C2 Capital teamed up with Morgan Stanley Real Estate investing to launch a multi-let industrial landlord platform in early 2015. That was then sold to Stenprop two-and-a-half years later, marking the start of the listed company\u2019s metamorphosis into Industrials REIT.<\/p>\n\n <\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n\n

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Fast-forward to today, and following Blackstone\u2019s \u00a3511m acquisition of Industrials REIT last year, Carey has been made chief executive of Indurent.<\/p>\n

The company is Blackstone\u2019s third big industrial-focused company, sitting alongside Logicor and Mileway. It combines Industrials REIT with the logistics arm of St Modwen, the listed company Blackstone acquired in 2021 in a \u00a31.3bn deal.<\/p>\n

Unlike the other two companies, Indurent is solely UK-focused and covers the full range of the market, from small industrial units to big logistics warehouses.<\/p>\n\n <\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe rationale for putting the two businesses together is to take the proven development capability and land bank of St Modwen Logistics, and put it together with the best-in-class operating platform of Industrials REIT. The two together are stronger than the two apart fundamentally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n \n Julian Carey, CEO of Indurent\n <\/cite>\n <\/blockquote>\n <\/span>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n\n

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\n \n \n\n<\/svg>\n\n<\/span> Growth plans\n <\/h2>\n \n \n

The portfolio currently spans 27m sq ft, but with Blackstone behind it, Indurent has plans to grow this figure significantly. There is plenty of embedded growth already thanks to the size of the development pipeline inherited from St Modwen \u2013 coincidentally also 27m sq ft.<\/p>\n

Indurent plans to develop out around 2m sq ft a year, and keep replenishing the pipeline.<\/p>\n

Developing assets to high environmental standards will be a key area of focus, but Carey says Indurent will also invest heavily in a capex programme to improve the environmental credentials of its existing portfolio. As part of that, the company is planning to increase its solar capacity by 75% this year.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Indurent will continue to be active in the investment market, acquiring new buildings, including both multi-let industrial and logistics assets. So far this year, it has already invested around \u00a3400m.<\/p>\n

Growing the business will deliver significant efficiency gains. A year before Blackstone took Industrials private, the REIT said that thanks to the technology-driven platform it had built, it would be able to cut its EPRA cost ratio from just over 40% to 30% by doubling the size of the portfolio.<\/p>\n

The technology platform, called Hive, is now being used across Indurent. Carey says it will deliver benefits for the business and its occupiers that go beyond cost saving.<\/p>\n\n <\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve now onboarded all of St Modwen\u2019s logistics assets into the Hive and it\u2019s gone really well. It\u2019s already delivering efficiency benefits, and customer service benefits. We have much more accurate data, and more timely data in the hands of the people when they need it, so our staff are able to spend more time working for our customers rather than trying to source information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n \n Julian Carey, CEO of Indurent\n <\/cite>\n <\/blockquote>\n <\/span>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n\n\n

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\n \n \n\n<\/svg>\n\n<\/span> Joining forces\n <\/h2>\n \n \n

The integration of the two businesses is now largely complete, following a formal launch over the summer. Staff have moved out of St Modwen\u2019s offices at Longbridge into central Birmingham \u2013 a move that Carey says has been successful, as they are now closer to the group\u2019s key advisers and its assets.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the size of the group\u2019s Stockport office has been doubled. The London team remains at Great Portland Street, where St Modwen and Industrials happened to already occupy the same building.<\/p>\n

Carey says the two sides of the business have gelled well. Carey says the two sides of the business have gelled well. He says: \u201cI\u2019m really privileged to lead such a fantastic team. It\u2019s been brilliant bringing together the best of both worlds.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Chief financial officer: Tom Olsen\n <\/p>\n \n

\n Olsen joined last year, initially at St Modwen Logistics, having previously been head of Revantage UK, which provides corporate services to Blackstone\u2019s real estate investments.\n <\/p>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n