Property developer to raise £97m for regional expansion
Property company LondonMetric is raising £97m in a share placing as it looks to expand regionally, including funding Yorkshire sites.
It will use £28m to fund four recently completed distribution investments,three of which are based in West Yorkshire.
These include a 120,000 sq ft regional warehouse in Wakefield let to One Stop Stores, a 100,000 sq ft last mile warehouse in Leeds let to Vision Alert and a 49,000 sq ft last mile warehouse in Leeds let to Siemens.
The bulk of the funding will go towards major warehouse developments in Dagenham, Stoke and Crawley.
It has funded recent investments primarily through ongoing retail park disposals and has not raised further equity since it was formed through merger in 2013.
Andrew Jones, chief executive officer of LondonMetric, commented: “Our increased commitment to last mile acquisitions and short cycle distribution developments, together with a healthy pipeline of further opportunities, will support our plans to grow our distribution exposure to at least 70% within a year. Earlier this week, we secured two further last mile acquisitions and today we have announced major pre-lettings to Eddie Stobart and Michelin, alongside the letting to Amazon. These transactions highlight the compelling market opportunities that exist and we expect to deploy raised funds at pace, leading to accretive earnings whilst maintaining a progressive and fully covered dividend.
“Structural trends in consumer behaviour and shopping patterns are continuing to drive demand for distribution, from last mile facilities to mega sheds, but supply remains constrained. For those with market access and knowledge, investments in the sector are able to create long-term, reliable income. At LondonMetric, we have 99.6% occupancy and our assets are backed by some of the biggest retailers and logistics groups.”
