Allianz Real Estate has formed a EUR 470 mln joint venture with global industrial property specialist AMB Property Corporation. The joint venture takes the form of a Luxembourg FCP-FIS fund which will acquire, own and operate logistics real estate tied to global trade and located in major seaport, airport and distribution markets in the Eurozone.

Hamid Moghadam, AMB's chairman and CEO, said: 'This is a critical step in our commitment to developing private capital ventures with leading global investors. With this new venture we will seek opportunities to deploy capital across the Eurozone in markets that are vital to the global supply chain.'

The real estate arm of German insurer Allianz will provide an initial equity commitment of about EUR 400 mln and the joint venture's overall equity commitment is EUR 470 mln, including AMB's 15% co-investment.

'It is Allianz Real Estate’s strategy to invest indirectly in regions or niches where we do not have adequate expertise on our own,' said Olivier Piani, CEO of Allianz Real Estate. 'We find this expertise for an industrial joint venture with partners like AMB. This joint venture is the largest we have done thus far, as well as our biggest foray into the logistics space. We see a lot of long-term opportunities and are excited to move forward.'

AMB's portfolio in Europe totalled more than 1.4 million m2 of operating and development properties at end-December 2010. Earlier this year AMB announced it is merging with Prologis, the largest distribution space specialist in the world. The combination of the two US-listed companies will create a global industrial property specialist with a pro forma equity market capitalisation of EUR 10 bn and about EUR 34 bn of assets under management.