Tristan's TIPS ONE Debt Fund Delivers €58m of Financing for Self-Storage Platform

1 February, London: Tristan Capital Partners’ TIPS One "Income Plus" Real Estate Debt Fund has provided c.€58 million of senior debt financing to 1Box for the refinancing of a portfolio of self-storage assets in the Netherlands.

The portfolio comprises 18 self-storage assets with 67,000 sqm of lettable area, geographically spread across the Netherlands, assembled through the acquisition of single assets and smaller portfolios and through the conversion of properties from other use classes.

The funding has been provided to refinance and consolidate the existing borrowings of the group and to fund capital expenditure associated with new conversions and recent acquisitions1Box aims to stabilise the newly opened and sites under development, as well as increase profitability through the use of technology and ongoing operational efficiencies.

The 1Box Group is a self-storage platform backed by Volta Global, a US-based global investment group with a mission to build a leading cross-border pan-European self-storage business. In addition to their vast self-storage portfolio, Volta is also active both in the US and Europe across hospitality, multi-family, office, and bridge lending.

Dan Pottorff, Head of Debt Investment at Tristan Capital Partners, said: “Self-storage is an asset class we are keen to increase exposure to within the TIPS One lending program in light of its attractive fundamentals and cyclically defensive characteristics. The rapid growth of the 1Box platform since its inception in 2019, the high-quality nature of the conversions undertaken by the group and the value creation story to date is one that we are pleased to be supporting through this financing. Since its inception, with the closure of this loan, the TIPS One fund has completed eight loans across the UK and Europe and deployed close to €400m in whole loan lending.”

Jeff Evans, President of Volta Global, added: “We are very pleased to have completed this transaction with Tristan’s TIPS One fund and are confident this partnership will be instrumental in achieving our continued growth ambitions within the Netherlands, and across Europe more broadly. Self-storage in Europe is still in the early innings of a strong secular growth trend for both consumer demand and institutional investor interest, and we are excited to have found a financing partner like Tristan that brings to the table not only deep expertise in real estate finance but also a robust understanding of self-storage development and operations.”  

The 1Box Self-Storage business was originally founded by Dutch entrepreneur Jan Bikker, who partnered with Volta Global in 2019 and still serves as Managing Director of 1Box today. Jan commented: “It is rare to find such like-minded partners in both Volta and Tristan that share the same vision for the future of self-storage in Europe and will enable us to reach our ambitious goals in the coming years.”

Tristan Capital Partners was advised by BCLP and Van Doorne. 1Box was advised by Taylor Wessing.  JLL acted as debt advisor to 1Box.