Morgan Stanley has launched the second European commercial mortgage-backed securitisation transaction of 2026, collateralised by a portfolio of EQT industrial assets in the UK, as the reviving part of the financing market continues where it left off in 2025.
Aesir (European Loan Conduit No. 41 Dac) is a 94.4% securitisation of a £281.8 million commercial real estate loan originated by US bank Morgan Stanley. It splits to Facility A at £183.6 million, facility B1 at £98.2 million. A separate Irish facility, B2, at £16.6 million, is not part of the CMBS. The loan is backed by a portfolio of 20 logistics properties, of which 19 are in the UK and one is in Ireland.
The borrowers are ultimately controlled by funds managed by EQT.
The properties are let to 18 tenants with average occupancy of 98.4%. The geographical split is 27.1% in the East Midlands by market value, 25.1% in the West Midlands, 19.7% in Yorkshire and 5.5% in Ireland. Based on Savills Advisory Services' valuation reports, the aggregate market value of the properties in the UK stood at £417.5 million as of 13 October 2025, and the Irish properties at €28.2 million. The combined market value is £442 million, which translates to a day-one loan to value of 67.5%.
As of 9 September 2025, the portfolio totalled four million square feet of gross lettable area. It generated £27.1 million in gross rental income on a weighted-average lease term to expiry of 8.2 years. Tenants include Tesco, Royal Mail, Primark and GXO Logistics.
Assets in the portfolio include: Primark's 787,500-square-foot hub in Thrapston in Northamptonshire, Great Bear's 335,141 square foot hub in Banbury in Oxfordshire, and Toolbank's 183,392-square-foot warehouse in Wednesbury in the West Midlands.
Morningstar DBRS and S&P are acting as ratings analysts. Mount Street is special servicer.
Transactions in this part of the property financing market have picked up strongly over the past year and pricing has become increasingly competitive.
Once again, the collateral is industrial-focused, and mostly in the UK, but the sponsor name is new, as the market becomes more diverse.
Underlining the rebounding activity for CMBS in the UK and Europe, Bank of America, Standard Chartered Bank and Wells Fargo on Wednesday priced the first European commercial mortgage-backed securitisation of 2026, at the most competitive level for a sterling-denominated transaction since the pandemic.
The £500 million Sirius Logistics 2026-1 UK DAC is collateralised by UK industrial assets owned by Blackstone's Mileway platform.
New European CMBS issuance soared in 2025 to €8.7 billion in 17 transactions across multiple sectors, against €2.2 billion in five transactions the previous year, to chalk up the highest annual volume by a distance for more than a decade, according to a report from Scope. That included €5.3 billion in the UK. Blackstone accounted for roughly 72% of European and 79% of UK issuance.
Morningstar DBRS said it expects 2026 to show similar numbers.
"We expect between 15 and 20 securitisations for approximately €9 billion to €10 billion. Once again, [industrial and logistics] collateral is likely to be the most common asset type securing European CMBS issuances, but we also expect multifamily, office, and retail properties to find their way into the CMBS market in 2026. In addition, we would not be surprised to see less traditional CRE included in future transactions, such as the 39 holiday parks in Caister Finance DAC last year.
"Last year was also pivotal because several sponsors re-entered the CMBS market for their financing needs. For example, The Carlyle Group, Starwood Capital Group, and GoldenTree Asset Management decided, for the first time since the GFC, to issue CMBS to fund their European CRE investments. Blackstone has remained the biggest sponsor of European CMBS in recent years, but the additional sponsors have improved diversity, which may help to consolidate CMBS' position as a reliable source of funding for the European CRE market."
EQT Real Estate was created through the merger of EQT AB and Exeter Property Group in 2021 and has assets under management of approximately $58 billion.