Life Science REIT has added a further three buildings to its growing portfolio for a total of £38.7m.
The three buildings at the Cambourne Business Park near Cambridge were acquired through the purchase of Scholar Property Investments, which held the freeholds as its sole assets. The deal, the fourth since Life Science’s IPO last month, reflects a net initial yield of 5.6%.
The Cambourne properties, which total more than 100,000 sq ft of offices and medtech space, were under exclusivity at the time of the IPO. Occupancy is currently more than 83% and the property benefits from a 24-month rental guarantee on currently unoccupied space, equating to an income of £2.27m pa, with a weighted average unexpired lease term of 5.39 years.
Life Science plans to enhance the appeal of the buildings by investing in new tenant amenities and creating further laboratory space.
Simon Farnsworth, managing director at Ironstone Asset Management, the company’s investment adviser, said: “Cambourne Business Park has the opportunity to become the premier science park to the west of Cambridge, where transport links are particularly strong and are set to be enhanced by further infrastructure improvements over the next few years. The acquisition of the three buildings at the park benefits from attractive current income along with investment opportunities in further laboratory space and amenity facilities to drive the buildings’ attraction to life science companies.”
Life Science has so far spent £128m of the £350m it raised at its IPO.
Savills acted on behalf of Life Science REIT; Knight Frank acted for the vendor.
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