Storage King, owned by Stor-Age Property REIT and Moorfield Real Estate Fund V, has added 302,400 sq ft to its UK portfolio through the acquisition of Storagebase.
The portfolio of four storage facilities was bought for £59m and is located in the south of England in Banbury, Wednesbury, Frome and Amesbury. The latter is a new 102,000 sq ft scheme, which is currently under construction and is expected to be brought online by summer. The other three sites were built in 2007, and since then have had a blended occupancy rate of 90% and an average rental rate of £22 per sq ft per annum.
The acquisition of the three mature properties represents a forward asset yield of 6.3% and an equity yield of 13.2% for Stor-Age. When including the Amesbury property, the acquisition represents a forward equity yield of 11.6%.
All sites will be operated by Storage King upon completion of the transaction.
Storage King chief executive Robin Greenwood said: “This acquisition forms part of our growth strategy to increase the footprint of our portfolio across the UK.”
FRP Corporate Finance is leading the sale of the group and exit for the existing owners; TLT provided legal advice to Storagebase.
Mark Naughton, partner at FRP Corporate Finance, added: “With people needing more space at home due to the shift to agile working and the steady flow of major life events making self-storage a recession-proof market, we expect to see more consolidation in the space in the coming months and years.”
This acquisition is the largest to date on behalf of the 75/25 joint venture between Moorfield and Stor-Age, which is targeting a further £50m to £100m of investment in self storage assets in the UK going forward.
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