Food ingredient supplier snaps up warehouse for regional distribution centre
Stourbridge-based Barberry Industrial has sold a speculatively developed warehouse unit to a leading food company for its new Midlands regional distribution centre.
Kent Foods, one of Europe’s leading suppliers of ingredients to the food manufacturing industry, has acquired the freehold of the 73,257 sq ft Barberry72 warehouse at Sopwith Way in Daventry, Northamptonshire.
The £9.4m deal is expected to bring further investment and new jobs to the area as part of Kent Foods’ expansion strategy, said Barberry development director Jon Robinson.
The high specification unit has been developed on the 3.5-acre site of a former Focus DIY store.
Robinson said: “Barberry 72 is a prominent, high quality warehouse/manufacturing unit, in the highly sought-after mid-box size range, in what is an excellent location within the golden triangle of logistics. This transaction has delivered the outputs of our business plan and secured a new quality occupier for Daventry, creating economic growth and new jobs for the town.
“We are delighted to have completed the sale of Barberry 72 to Kent Foods and we wish the company success with its new regional distribution centre. Once again, the high quality of our speculative development, the Grade A location and the appetite within the Mid-Box industrial and logistics sector for warehouse units of this size and the ability to offer freehold and leasehold terms has proved to be a winning combination.”
Glasgow-based Kent Foods is one of Europe’s largest independent suppliers of sugars, sweeteners, dairy products, oils and fats to the food manufacturing industry. It also stocks and supplies a range of related ingredients to provide a quality and comprehensive product range for customers.
Rob Watts, associate director of Avison Young, who acted for Kent Foods, said: “We were delighted to act for Kent Foods in this transaction. A comprehensive search was undertaken last year to identify and acquire a new facility for their expanding operations. We identified Barberry 72 in Daventry as a preferred building due to the excellent location and specification.
“It was a pleasure to work with the Barberry team during the process and we wish Kent Foods all of the best in their new acquisition.”
Simon Norton, director, Colliers who acted for Barberry, said: “The sale to Kent foods demonstrates the agile approach Barberry can offer to occupiers providing grade A product in a market that requires developers to deliver.”
Frontier Development Capital (FDC), an independent fund manager, supported the development with a loan of £3.75m in August 2020 from the FDC Debt Fund, a £100m fund for mid-market SMEs and property developers providing loan investments up to £10m.
Both Savills and Colliers acted on behalf of Barberry.
