vPOOL Sale of the Warehouse and Logistics Facilities of Pooling Operator vPOOL

The Company

The property portfolio with special properties from the office and logistics sectors consists of a two-storey office property (built in 2003) with approx. 690m², a logistics property including an integrated cold store (built in 2003) with 1,695m² and a modern warehouse and logistics property (built in 2009) with 4,896m². The location Wörnitz in the district of Ansbach, Bavaria is a classic C location.

The corresponding property portfolio was in a B location and comprised a two-storey office property with approx. 690m², a somewhat older logistics property including an integrated cold storage warehouse with 1,695m² and a new warehouse and logistics property with 4,896m².

The Transaction

Until the insolvency of vPOOL Deutschland GmbH in November 2018, the real estate portfolio was partly used as vPOOL's own operating property. Other parts of the real estate were already leased to third parties before the insolvency filing.

As part of the transaction process, the property portfolio from the insolvency was to be sold in a separate sales process. The particular challenge here was that part of the property portfolio (office property and part of a logistics property) was to continue to be made available to vPOOL's successor company via long-term rental and lease agreements and the other special properties in a C-location were available for own use or third-party leasing. Thus, the real estate portfolio was neither predestined for a strategic investor nor for a classic real estate investor.
Within the framework of a structured investor approach as well as intensive discussions and negotiations with both strategic investors and professional real estate investors, a strategic investor was found who was able to fulfil all necessary transaction requirements with regard to third-party and owner-occupancy.

In May 2019, Bayern Pooling GmbH, which is also active in load carrier pooling but has a stronger local focus, took over the corresponding real estate portfolio. At the same time, a long-term rental and lease agreement for part of the real estate portfolio was concluded with vPOOL's successor company.

By taking over the real estate portfolio, Bayern Pooling was able to strengthen its local logistics and storage capacities in Bavaria.

Scope of Mandate

ARGONAS fully advised and supported the renowned insolvency administrator Joachim Exner of Beck & Partner as exclusive sell-side advisor in the preparation and implementation of the process.

For further information please read the full press release:

Sascha Männel

MANAGING DIRECTOR/CO-FOUNDER

Sascha Männel is Managing Director at ARGONAS and has more than 15 years of experience in the areas of Corporate Finance Advisory and Investment Banking.

At ARGONAS, Sascha is responsible for deal origination and market analysis and further supports M&A and financing projects across a wide range of industries, sectors and company situations. Sascha’s focus areas are businesses in the Industrial & Automotive, Engineering, Logistics and Packaging space as well as the support of growth companies and special situations.

Selected transaction references comprise inter alia the sale of the automotive positioning and software specialist Naventik to the Swiss listed semiconductor manufacturer u-blox AG and the sale of vPool Logistics to the Dutch Faber Halbertsma Group (Pooling Partners / PAKI Logistics).

Before co-founding ARGONAS, Sascha worked for Freitag & Co. in Frankfurt am Main from 2008 to 2009 and for IEG - Investment Banking in Berlin from 2009 to 2012, where he advised medium-sized companies and international groups on mid-market M&A transactions in Germany, Eastern Europe and Turkey. Previously, he worked for Berenberg Bank, E&Y, Freshfields and KPMG in Berlin and Hamburg.

Sascha holds a degree in business administration at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences in Sankt Augustin, a degree in business law at the University of Applied Sciences Nordhessen as well an MSc in Global Banking and Finance at the European Business School London (EBS London).