Property group expands UK presence with £23m acquisition

A BLACK Country property company has boosted its retail portfolio with a £23m acquisition.

Kingswinford-based London & Cambridge Properties (LCP) has spent £23.34m on the acquisition of 100 retail units across England, acquired from EPI Special Situations 3 (EPISO3), a fund advised by Tristan Capital Partners, and Addington Capital.

The Blossom Portfolio, which comprises 14 sites and includes high street stores and neighbourhood shopping parades, brings LCP’s investment in retail properties to more than £103m in the last 18 months.

The retail units extend from Bournemouth in the south to Chorley in the north and include major high street names such as Specsavers, Superdrug, KFC and Iceland.

LCP has acquired the 216,000 sq ft portfolio as part of its ongoing acquisition programme in both the retail and industrial sectors.

EPISO 3 and Addington had acquired the Blossom portfolio in 2014 as part of Project Tree, a £150m portfolio of high street retail, office and  residential  which it has subsequently been actively asset managing.

Matthew Allen, principal of Addington Capital said: “Our strategy is always to work closely with our JV  partners to find property opportunities where we can buy well and unlock value through active asset management and then dispose to specialist sector investors.”

James Buchanan, investment director at LCP, said it was keen to acquire the portfolio because it offered the potential to enhance returns using LCP’s intensive asset management approach.

“The Blossom Portfolio presented us with the ideal opportunity to purchase an excellent mix of thriving high street properties and local neighbourhood parades, which has increasingly become a focus for us,” he said.

“We’ve already acquired more than 50 local convenience parades in the past 18 months and this is yet another significant purchase for LCP. Our proactive asset managers are already looking carefully at how we can add further value for the tenants and local shoppers who use the stores.”

LCP was represented by Allsop, while Tristan & Addington Capital was advised by Cushman & Wakefield.
 

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