THE Esporta gym and racket club near Coventry has been acquired by British Land as part of a £179m deal to purchase a portfolio of gym sites.
The London-based property investor has bought 17 sites which are due to come under the ownership of rival chain Virgin Active should a buyout be approved by the Office of Fair Trading.
Esporta Coventry is located on Whitley Common a few miles south of the city centre.
British Land, which owns the NatWest tower in Birmingham city centre, said it had agreed to buy the freehold and leasehold racket clubs from Esporta’s parent company Societe Generale.
The portfolio consists of 17 ‘premium’ racket clubs, the majority of which are in London and the South East, which will be let on new, 25-year leases to Virgin Active pending its acquisition of Esporta.
Other sites in the portfolio include Gloucester, Manchester, Sunderland and Plymouth.
The purchase would be funded through the British Land’s existing facilities, it said.
The properties have been acquired at a net initial yield of 7.3% and an equivalent yield of 8.4% and are expected to generate an initial annual net rental income of £13m.
The average rent on the new leases is £8 per sq ft with a total floor space of 1.7m sq ft across 380 acres of land.
The purchase of the Esporta properties brought British Land’s total acquisition spend over the last 18 months to £784m, it said.
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