Key Takeaways
- • Colonial and Stoneshield Capital have formalized their joint venture following regulatory approval, creating a pan-European Science & Innovation real estate platform with a mid-term target to scale to €2.4 billion in assets under management.
- • Colonial is committing €200 million to Deeplabs, Spain's leading Science & Innovation real estate platform, as the cornerstone anchor investment for the partnership.
- • The joint venture targets a net IRR above 15% with CPI-indexed long-term lease agreements to leading innovation-sector tenants, positioning the partnership to capitalize on a shortage of specialized facilities across Europe.
- • The partnership leverages Colonial's institutional-grade corporate tenant relationships and European market execution expertise with Stoneshield's platform scaling and asset transformation capabilities, offering attractive risk-return profiles with asset yields below sovereign rates and limited competitive pressure.
- • CaixaBank has provided €170 million in refinancing for Deeplabs, supporting the capital structure and demonstrating institutional lender confidence in the platform.
Summary
Colonial and Stoneshield Capital have completed their previously announced joint venture alliance, obtaining all required regulatory authorizations and launching their joint management company dedicated to the European Science & Innovation real estate sector. The partnership was initially announced in April 2025 and has now moved into active execution phase with the formal establishment of its operational structure.
The strategic rationale centers on addressable market inefficiencies in Europe's real estate landscape. According to Felipe Morenés Botín, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Stoneshield Capital, the current net rents from science and innovation assets represent "one of the most attractive risk-return profiles in the European real estate sector," enhanced by CPI-indexed long-term lease structures with established innovation-driven tenants, asset yields trading below sovereign rates, and limited competitive supply. Colonial CEO Pere Viñolas emphasized that the initiative "responds to the shortage of suitable assets in Europe" while delivering shareholder value through an expected net IRR exceeding 15%, with positive impacts to EPS and Net Tangible Assets in both short and long-term periods.
Colonial's €200 million allocation to Deeplabs—Spain's established leader in Science & Innovation real estate—anchors the partnership's initial capital deployment. The joint venture intends to aggregate approximately €700 million in total capital deployment to build a pan-European portfolio, with ambitions to scale to €2.4 billion in assets under management at maturity. This capital structure has attracted institutional lending support; CaixaBank has provided €170 million in refinancing for the Deeplabs platform, signaling confidence in the underlying asset quality and management team.
The partnership combines complementary capabilities: Colonial brings institutional track record in serving Europe's leading corporate tenants and executing long-term investments in prime locations, while Stoneshield contributes expertise in scaling operational real estate platforms and executing value creation through asset transformation. The combination positions the venture to serve a fragmented, undersupplied market segment with long-duration, inflation-protected cash flows and exposure to secular growth in life sciences, technology, and innovation-driven industries across continental Europe.
The strategic rationale centers on addressable market inefficiencies in Europe's real estate landscape. According to Felipe Morenés Botín, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Stoneshield Capital, the current net rents from science and innovation assets represent "one of the most attractive risk-return profiles in the European real estate sector," enhanced by CPI-indexed long-term lease structures with established innovation-driven tenants, asset yields trading below sovereign rates, and limited competitive supply. Colonial CEO Pere Viñolas emphasized that the initiative "responds to the shortage of suitable assets in Europe" while delivering shareholder value through an expected net IRR exceeding 15%, with positive impacts to EPS and Net Tangible Assets in both short and long-term periods.
Colonial's €200 million allocation to Deeplabs—Spain's established leader in Science & Innovation real estate—anchors the partnership's initial capital deployment. The joint venture intends to aggregate approximately €700 million in total capital deployment to build a pan-European portfolio, with ambitions to scale to €2.4 billion in assets under management at maturity. This capital structure has attracted institutional lending support; CaixaBank has provided €170 million in refinancing for the Deeplabs platform, signaling confidence in the underlying asset quality and management team.
The partnership combines complementary capabilities: Colonial brings institutional track record in serving Europe's leading corporate tenants and executing long-term investments in prime locations, while Stoneshield contributes expertise in scaling operational real estate platforms and executing value creation through asset transformation. The combination positions the venture to serve a fragmented, undersupplied market segment with long-duration, inflation-protected cash flows and exposure to secular growth in life sciences, technology, and innovation-driven industries across continental Europe.
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