Cordea Savills has made its 12th purchase in as many months, buying a B&Q warehouse in Northern Ireland.
The fund manager has bought the Craigavon building for £11.9m on behalf of the Bishopsgate Long Term Property Unit Trust.
The purpose-built 86,000 sq ft warehouse is let to B&Q for 13 years with five-yearly, upward-only rent reviews. The acquisition price reflects a net initial yield of 7.9%.
This latest acquisition brings the total value of completed investments on behalf of the fund to over £200m since the start of 2013.
Portfolio manager Patrick Lowther said: “In under 12 months we have acquired a diversified and well located portfolio of 12 properties with an average lease length of 11.39 years and a portfolio yield of 6.5%.
“With secure income, negligible voids and a number of asset management opportunities, the assets acquired so far form a solid foundation for the core portfolio which we continue to build and which will be capable of delivering the fund’s income based strategy and which we believe is well placed to outperform the benchmark in the long term.
“By the end of 2013 we expect the portfolio to have increased to in excess of £300m. The Fund has a further £50m of assets under offer, and is actively targeting a number of industrial investments in order to increase its weighting to the sector.”
Recent acquisitions include:
• Warwick House, a prominent warehouse-style London office building in Kensington Village, purchased for £40.1m at a net initial yield of 5.2%. The former Whiteley’s furniture depository was extensively refurbished in 2000 and is currently let to Publicis Group on a seven-year lease.
• 9 Bond Court, a 12-storey 68,234 sq ft prime office building in the centre of Leeds, purchased for £12.4m, reflecting a net initial yield of 8.7%. The building is multilet to six tenants including Royal Sun Alliance and the Royal College of Nursing.
• A House of Fraser department store in a prime location on Exeter High Street, purchased for £7.2m, reflecting a net initial yield of 6.5%.
bridget.o’connell@estatesgazette.com
