Gazeley, the developer, owner and manager of logistics warehouses and distribution parks, has sold the 62,150 m2 e-commerce distribution centre being built for UK retailer John Lewis at Magna Park Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire to Aviva Investors for £74.20m (€88.5m).
The property, to be completed next February, is being forward funded by Aviva Investors. A distribution facility located on the park was also developed by Gazeley in 2007.
Aviva Investor’s Lime Property Fund acquired the asset at a yield of 4.9%. It will be let to John Lewis for 30 years with inflation-linked rent reviews each year.
Nigel Godfrey, senior vice president at Gazeley, said: “We took the decision to sell this prime asset in light of the recent surge in investor demand and received a number of very strong offers. We are very pleased to have completed this deal with the Aviva team in just 10 days, which was in line with our expectations.”
Renos Booth, fund manager at Aviva Investors, said: “This acquisition comes on the back of the Lime Property Fund reaching assets under management of £1bn and continues our strategy of acquiring long-term, inflation-linked income from undoubted covenants. We are also pleased to have been able to build upon Lime’s track record of working with developers to complete this mutually beneficial transaction in such a short time frame.”
Colliers International acted for Aviva Investors with Jones Lang LaSalle and Savills acting for Gazeley.
Brookfield Asset Management acquired Gazeley earlier this year.
