LondonMetric offloads Coventry retail park in £37m deal

LondonMetric has disposed of Coventry’s Airport Retail Park in a £37.3m deal, as part of a series of transactions worth £124m.
The investor acquired the 138,000 sq ft asset in 2010 for £18m, which is let to 13 occupiers, including Currys, Aldi, B&M and Dunelm.
Coventry-based developer the Deeley Group had worked with LondonMetric on the site since 2012, on four projects.
The firm’s work started with repairing the fire-damaged Dreams and Dunelm unit. The five years saw the partnership deliver a new B&M store, Aldi Superstore and the extension of an existing unit for Costa Coffee.
The deal was part of a disposal of ten non-core properties by LondonMetric for £74.2m. Sales include the sale of two Coventry offices for £3.3m, which completes the sell-down of the 11 offices acquired through the A&J Mucklow acquisition.
Other properties offloaded feature:
- An 82,000 sq ft Compass training office in Yarnfield, sold for £17.4m
- A 35,000 sq ft convenience retail park in Totton, sold for £9.5m (£4.7m at share)
- Two Stonegate pubs in Preston and Southampton, sold for £3.3m
- A former Dobbies garden centre in Huddersfield, sold for £3.1m
- Two parcels of development land, sold for £300k
LondonMetric also announced that it has acquired seven properties for £50.1m:
- Four Travis Perkins trade warehouses in Colchester, Lymington, Sheffield and Trowbridge, acquired for £16.4m through a 15-year sale and leaseback
- A Premier Inn hotel in West Thurrock with 193 bedrooms and let for a further ten years, acquired for £14.7m
- A 54,000 sq ft convenience retail property in Andover, acquired for £12.2m and let for a further six years to Wickes, The Range and KFC
- A new 22,000 sq ft M&S foodstore, pre-let on a 15-year lease, to be developed at a cost of £6.8m
Andrew Jones, Chief Executive of LondonMetric commented: “We have again successfully disposed of non-core assets at prices in line with our valuations and reinvested into higher quality opportunities in strong conviction sectors, where rental growth prospects are more compelling.”