United Kingdom industrial developer Chancerygate has been bought by Canadian real estate asset manager Dream.
In an announcement on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Dream and Dream Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust said they had entered into definitive agreements for Dream to buy Chancerygate, the industrial developer and asset manager with a 30-year track record in the multilet industrial sector that manages a portfolio totalling £1.2 billion (Canadian $2.2 billion).
The filing said that Dream will take on Chancerygate's investment management and development platform. Dream Industrial REIT will buy Chancerygate's wholly owned real estate assets and co-investment interests across its managed ventures for £78 million (C$147 million), gross of certain in-place debt, and expects to fund an additional £25 million (C$47 million) to complete the wholly owned development projects. The transactions are expected to close in August 2026.
Dream said that post-transaction, the combined Dream platform will be one of Europe’s leading vertically integrated urban industrial operators with approximately 27 million square feet managed or under development. It says that Chancerygate’s specialisation in the MLI sector is "additive" to its focus on urban small and mid-bay assets across its 74 million square foot global industrial platform.
Dream describes Chancerygate's coverage of the UK, Ireland, Spain and Portugal as "highly complementary" to its operations in the Netherlands and Germany. Its European platform will comprise over 80 professionals across offices in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Amsterdam, Madrid, Lisbon and Dublin.
Dream’s total global assets under management is expected to exceed $30 billion after the acquisition with the European platform at over $6 billion in industrial and living assets under management.
Dream said it has been operating in Europe for over 15 years and has completed over $13 billion of transactions. It said Dream, Chancerygate and Dream Industrial REIT are in advanced negotiations to form a new programmatic joint venture with a leading global institutional investor. The joint venture will target acquisition and development opportunities in the MLI sector across Europe with a target gross asset value of €500 million (C$800 million).
“This acquisition is an important step as we continue building a leading European industrial platform at Dream. Chancerygate brings us an exceptional team and an immediate presence in London at the centre of European capital flows. Combined with our existing platform we are well-positioned to continue to grow our private capital partnership business,” said Jamie Cooper, co-president, Asset Management of Dream.
“We are excited to join Dream, whose long-term investment philosophy and institutional capabilities align closely with the platform we have built at Chancerygate. Over the past three decades, our team has developed a reputation for managing and delivering high-quality assets for some of the world's most sophisticated investors. Joining Dream gives us access to greater scale, broader resources and an enhanced ability to serve our partners as we enter this next chapter of growth,” said Richard Bains, managing director of Chancerygate.
Founded over 30 years ago and headquartered in London, Chancerygate historically focused on a build-to-sell development strategy, but has expanded its activities in building and managing income-producing properties, both on-balance sheet and on behalf of leading global institutional investors. Chancerygate manages approximately £1.2 billion of assets with another £200 million under development across various private ventures.
Dream’s institutional asset management division provides investment and asset management services to its publicly listed trusts and institutional partners. As at March 31, 2026, Dream managed C$28 billion of assets across listed entities, private funds and private partnerships in North America and Europe.
Colliers advised Dream. CBRE advised Dream REIT.
Edward Plumley, co-head of EMEA industrial and logistics, EMEA capital markets at Colliers, said in a statement: “This is a rare opportunity to acquire a market-leading urban logistics platform at scale with the required expertise to accelerate growth in the new cycle. The transaction highlights the strength of our EMEA Capital Markets platform to deliver complex cross-border opportunities. Colliers was able to identify the right strategic partner by having a deep understanding of our clients’ strategic objectives.”