Urban warehouse and retail park sold for £28.2m

LondonMetric has sold two assets for £28.2m with proceeds being used to pay down some of the firm’s revolving credit facility.

The first asset, a 30,000 sq ft urban warehouse in Digbeth, Birmingham was sold for £6.2m. The asset is let at a ‘hold over’ rent of £158,000 per annum and was acquired by LondonMetric in 2019 as part of the Mucklow acquisition.

In Tonbridge, a 61,000 sq ft retail park has been sold for £22m. The park was initially acquired in 2013 for £11.5m where it was let to B&Q and Halfords.

LondonMetric accepted a surrender on the B&Q, which has since been reconfigured and extended. The asset is fully let, with a weighted average unexpired lease term of 11 years, to M&S, Halfords, Food Warehouse, Home Bargains, Carpetright, Costa and Jollyes.

During ownership, the rent has risen by 44% to £1.2m per annum, with average rents increasing from £14.80 to £20.30 per square footage.

Andrew Jones, Chief Executive of LondonMetric, commented: “These are strong, opportunistic sales and demonstrate that, despite macro challenges, there is still liquidity for very well located assets. At Tonbridge, the completion of our accretive asset management initiatives have delivered a high quality grocery-led asset that is let on long leases to an excellent line up of retailers.”