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Nick Smith

Partner at Airport City Consultants

Focus areas

Airport, Investor, Business, Knowledge, Markets, Strategy, Aviation

Nick is an expert in investing, developing and funding airport-related commercial real estate, operating for 28 years.

Nick was an investment manager on a number of award winning multi-sector property pension funds and commingled funds up to 2010. Following which Nick was appointed the fund manager of the award winning specialist €1.2 billion airport industrial property Fund, AIPUT, where he was responsible for the strategy and financial performance for the fund’s global institutional investors. Nick transformed the scale, expertise, performance and reputation of AIPUT as a trusted specialist investor and partner in air cargo property within the airport economic zone of UK airports.

In 2024, Nick established Nick Smith Consulting, drawing upon his deep market knowledge and relationships in the aviation sector to provide strategic advice to airport owner-operators, investors (pension funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds, government, municipalities, REITs, private equity, charities), property developers, occupiers and banks/financiers on EMEA based airport and air cargo supply chain infrastructure and strategic land.

Nick is an active member of the RICS and a member of the Real Estate:UK Investment Governance Committee. 

Likes: Golf, Lego, family and friends

Dislikes: the inconsistent performance of Chelsea FC

Core skills

  • Investment, development, funding, asset enhancement and portfolio optimisation of airside/landside air Cargo supply chain infrastructure, warehouses, MRO Hangars and strategic land
  • Feasibility, masterplanning, sustainable design, leasing and delivery of airside and landside multi-user air cargo terminals and solus warehouses 
  • Orchestrating profitable business and revenue growth for airports, occupiers, investors or banks from air cargo related infrastructure
  • Strategic marketing and execution, including pre-leasing, of new or transformed air cargo warehouse space to users in time critical or high value sectors such as aerospace & defence/military, healthcare, perishables, cross-border ecommerce, new energy, IT and technology, and automotive
  • Tactical research to interpret, predict or identify trend impact on occupier needs and property design, new markets, mispriced value or risk
  • Equity raising advisory with LPs for airport related projects and funds, plus secondary unit trade advisory solutions/liquidity and scenario modelling.
  • Specialist airport-related fund/REIT creation, JV structures, Club structures, side-car vehicles, co-investment, vehicle end-of life management, change management in investment manager/GP
  • Airport-related debt funding, bonds, CMBS or restructuring

Achievements

  • Modernised the structure and governance, including extending the life of the €1.2 billion UK airport industrial fund, AIPUT, in 2015, leading to a strategic move into the London airport system, the world’s largest metropolitan aviation market
  • Grew AIPUT’s airport-related assets under management from €400m to €1.2 billion (2022) through organic and inorganic investment activity across London’s airports.
  • Acquired and sold over €0.4 billion of on-airport and off-airport air cargo assets at UK and European airports
  • Designed, pre-let, funded and developed 100,000 sq m (€0.5 billion) for dnata, DHL, Kuehne+Nagel, Swissport on and close to major UK and European airports. The delivery of over 40,000 sq m of state of the art air cargo warehouse space at Heathrow transformed the operational and physical cargo landscape, establishing a new benchmark and materially improving the airport’s competitive offer.
  • Secured €750m of new debt facilities with funders (e.g. Lloyds Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Wells Fargo, ICBC, PGIM), including an innovative €400m sustainability linked Term and RCF facility with Wells Fargo (2022).  


Awards and Honours

  • LogisticsUK Air Business of the Year (Winner: 2023)
  • Real Estate Capital Europe Sustainable Financing Deal of the Year (Winner: 2022)
  • GRESB Global Benchmark. (1st place in peer group: 2022, 2021)
  • AREF Investors Award for Outstanding Achievement (runner-up: 2022, 2021)
  • UKWA, Award for Excellence in Sustainability (shortlisted: 2023)
  • MSCI Property Investment Performance Awards, Specialist Funds (Winner: 2013)
  • MSCI Property Investment Performance Awards, Small Funds (Winner: 2006).

Innovative Research

  • Project Brighton (2022): Releasing alpha performance from air cargo related warehouse assets by executing a dedicated “decarb to core” investment strategy.
  • Project Walrus (2020): Stress-testing a resilient air cargo warehouse of the Future. Reimagining their need, design and operation from 2031+.
  • Project Bay (2018): Airports of the Future. Exploring how new technology, regulation and societal needs will transform occupier needs and airport-related real estate design, performance and value.

Team