Matalan distribution hub sold for £42m
LISTED real estate investor Tritax Big Box REIT has snapped-up a Liverpool distribution centre operated by retsailer Matalan for £42.4m.
Based on Knowsley Business Park, the northern distribution hub was built in 2006 and extended in 2014. It is is located adjacent to a newly constructed 115,000 sq ft office building occupied by Matalan and together they form Matalan’s headquarters facility.
The property is well located in close proximity to the M6 and M58, near to the Port of Liverpool and the airports of Manchester and Liverpool, providing excellent transport links across the region.
Knowsley Business Park is one of the largest industrial parks in Europe at 1,200 acres and is home to over 1,000 companies and major occupiers such as DHL, Amazon and B&M. The business park is currently undergoing infrastructure improvement works including a new access road and already benefits from a rail head.
The investment is being acquired with an unexpired lease term of approximately 21 years, subject to five yearly upward only rent reviews to open market rental value. The next review is due in October 2021.
B8 Real Estate represented the Company and JLL represented the vendor.
Colin Godfrey, partner of Tritax, said: “We have acquired Matalan’s Northern Distribution Centre, adjacent to their headquarters office, at an attractive yield which is accretive to our portfolio income yield.
“The property has already benefited from significant capital expenditure by the tenant and this, together with the 2014 extension, demonstrates Matalan’s commitment to the asset.
“The North West is an important logistics location in which there are no Big Boxes over 500,000 sq ft available to let, and no known plans for speculative development of distribution assets in this size bracket. This supply and demand imbalance offers prospects for strong rental growth.”
