LondonMetric Property has sold three retail parks in Christchurch, Bedford and Maidstone for £60.9m in total.
At Christchurch in Dorset, a 104,000 sq ft retail park has been sold to clients of Orchard Street Investment Management for £34.5m – a yield of 5.65%. The property was purchased in 2013 for £27.1m and since then new lettings have been signed with Costa, DFS, Home Bargains and Subway. The WAULT is 7 years.
At Bedford in Bedfordshire, the 66,000 sq ft Alban Retail Park has been sold to the Tritax Property Income Fund for £14.4m – a yield of 5.9%. The property was acquired in 2010 for £9.2m and, following asset management initiatives with B&M, Dunelm and Gym Group, rental income has increased by more than 30%. The WAULT is 8.3 years.
At Maidstone in Kent, a DFS property has been sold to clients of Helix Property Advisors for £12m, a yield of 7.5%, on behalf of the company’s DFS joint venture. The property was acquired in March 2014 as part of a portfolio of DFS stores at an overall yield of 9.3%. The joint venture retains 12 stores.
The disposals are at September 2016 book value and crystallise an ungeared IRR of 12.5%.
Andrew Jones, chief executive of LondonMetric, said: “We will continue to sell our well-let, mature retail assets upon completion of their business plans. Our retail park investments have halved over the past two years and now represent 13% of our total portfolio.
“The sale proceeds will be invested into our logistics investment and development programmes where rental growth prospects look more attractive.”
LondonMetric was advised by Cushman & Wakefield on Christchurch and the purchaser was advised by Savills. On Maidstone and Bedford, the purchasers were advised by Edgeley Simpson Howe and Harvey Spack Field respectively.
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