Property group completes £6.5m deal for North East industrial portfolio

Chorley-based Northern Trust Company has completed the £6.5m acquisition of a North East industrial portfolio from BizSpace.

The portfolio comprises 10 multi-let industrial estates totaling more than 146,000 sq ft located in Northumberland, Durham, Sunderland, Stockton-on-Tees and Cleveland.

Northern Trust director Tom Parkinson said: “We have been expanding our multi-let industrial portfolio through new acquisitions and developments and are delighted to complete this latest acquisition which offers good quality industrial space which will complement our existing sites in North East.

“This acquisition forms parts of our ongoing strategy to acquire and develop multi-let industrial assets to support the SME business community, with our current portfolio housing in the region of 18,000 jobs.”

Gerald Eve acted on behalf of Northern Trust on the acquisition.

Callum Robertson, of Gerald Eve, said: “This was a highly complex transaction which we completed with the aid of the Gerald Eve construction team. We completed all due diligence within a 15-day period with both our client and the vendor working relentlessly to complete the deal.

“Our client’s key specialism is granular asset management and, with historic occupancy already at 95%, this asset represents an appealing investment for Northern Trust.”

With the addition of the new estates, Northern Trust’s North East assets now total circa three million sq ft in 1,320 units.

Northern Trust’s portfolio covers more than eight million sq ft, with more than 200 individual industrial, trade and office parks, the portfolio contains more than 4,000 individual units, the vast majority of which let to SMEs.

The portfolio extends from the South Midlands to the central belt of Scotland and is actively managed by Northern Trust’s in-house surveying practice, Whittle Jones, which has regional offices in the North West, North East, Yorkshire, Midlands and Scotland.

The 10 new estates will be actively managed by the North East regional team.