St Modwen enlarges portfolio with £7m acquisition

Birmingham-based St Modwen has completed the £7.25m acquisition of a property in Merseyside.

The Longbridge company has exchanged contracts with specialist asset manager Gresham House for its Southern Gateway site in Speke.
The deal is expected to complete shortly.

Gresham House will use the proceeds of the sale of the inherited legacy asset to repay in full its outstanding loan of £4.4m to Kleinwort Hambros (formerly Kleinwort Benson), with the balance adding to its net cash balance sheet position, which is intended to support the company’s growth strategy.

In the financial year ended December 31, 2016, Southern Gateway generated net rental income of £0.46m and was held on the company’s balance sheet at £7.75m.

Tony Dalwood, chief executive of Gresham House, said: “We are pleased to announce the sale of Southern Gateway. This leaves the land at Newton-le-Willows as the only remaining significant legacy asset, having been inherited by the management team in December 2014.

“This brings the disposal of legacy assets to over £16m, which is greater than the market capitalisation of the company prior to this management team’s involvement. The disposal adds to the significant cash and liquid assets on the Gresham House balance sheet and we will continue to use this capital to deliver a sustainable, valuable and growing asset management business.”