First Islamic invests in European self storage development projects

The transaction is valued at approximately €232 million (euros).

Shurgard Europe is the largest developer, owner and operator of self-storage facilities in Europe. First Islamic and its co-investors will hold an 80 percent interest in the joint venture, with Shurgard Europe holding the remaining 20 percent. Of the 38 sites targeted for acquisition over the next 12 months, to date 23 have been identified and approved for development.

The joint venture has agreed terms with Sociëtë Gënërale for the provision of a development financing facility for 65% of the total development cost.

First Islamic projects that the investment will generate an Internal Rate of Return of approximately 20.7 percent over the anticipated four-year investment holding period.

Atif A. Abdulmalik, First Islamic's Chief Executive Officer, said "We believe that Europe, with its large and dense population, offers significant opportunities for developing self-storage facilities. Although the population of Europe is significantly larger than the US, Europe presently has only 415 self-storage facilities compared to 35,000 in the United States."

Mohamed Nooruddin, Executive Director, Investment Placement, added "Due to the fact that self-storage is a convenient and need-based product that has a relatively small cost impact on the customer's pocket, historically, the self-storage sector has performed well even during economic slowdowns."