Midlands sites in £57m portfolio deal
Property investor LondonMetric has sold six distribution warehouses for £57.3m after it received “strong approaches” to sell.
The sites have been sold to Canmoor and Canadian institutional investor AIMCo. It will crystallise an £8.8m profit on cost for LondonMetric.
The properties include JLR supplier Groupo Antolin’s site in Leamington Spa, Ceva Logistics’ hub in Castle Donington, and Transmec’s depot on Worcester’s Shire Business Park.
Andrew Jones, chief executive of LondonMetric, said: “The attractive demand/supply dynamics in distribution and the increasing weakness in legacy sectors is attracting substantial capital into the logistics sector from both new and existing investors.
“Whilst we seek to avoid unnecessary asset turnover, we will always take advantage of strong approaches for our assets. These proceeds will be reinvested into other quality opportunities in the strongest geographies where rental growth over the long term will be superior.”
The other properties are in Milton Keynes, Royston and Huyton. The occupiers include Hamleys and ITAB and have a weighted average unexpired lease term of 7.5 years.
LondonMetric took over some of the properties as part of its acquisition last year of West Midlands property group A&J Mucklow.
Completion of the sale is delayed March 25, 2021, allowing LondonMetric to receive £1.5 million of additional rent.
