M&G Investments has gone under offer to buy Gala Bingo’s £165m Project Tyche in a bid to expand its alternatives holdings.
Project Tyche is the sale of a property company that holds 52 bingo halls in England and Scotland, which will be leased back to Gala for 25 years. The portfolio represents roughly half of Gala’s estate. The price represents a yield of about 8.9% on a rent roll of £15.52m.
This is the first phase of the bingo firm’s strategy to raise up to £250m from its 137-strong portfolio, capitalising on an increased investor appetite after the UK government cut bingo duty from 20% to 10%.
Gala Coral Group, which owns the chain, is seeking to pay down a £334m defaulted Deutsche Bank property loan bought by Anchorage Capital Europe in April.
Forty of the clubs are modern, including a £6.4m lot in Scunthorpe, along with 13 community clubs.
This follows the sale of 42 bingo halls to Kames Capital and Benson Elliot Capital Management from a joint venture between Pears Group and Tony Khalastchi in August for £100m.
M&G has been increasingly active in the alternatives market, snapping up a portfolio of sites leased to British Car Auctions for £240m through two of its funds in October.
CBRE acted for Gala; Savills acted for M&G.
chris.berkin@estatesgazette.com
