The sale takes to five the number of real estate divestments staged by Arcapita during 2005, worth a total of $1,100 million.

'The strong US real estate market has resulted in increased valuation in most real estate asset classes,' says Asim Zafar, global head of real estate for Arcapita.

'This attractive pricing presents a good opportunity to exit from our industrial distribution facilities portfolios in the US, which have delivered an average IRR [internal rate of return] to investors of more than 16 per cent, or an average total return of more than 75 per cent.'