Real estate investor buys Huddersfield car showroom for £6.3m
An Audi showroom in Yorkshire has been acquired by recently-listed company AEW UK Long Lease REIT for £6.3m.
The Audi dealership is located in the Trident Business Park in Huddersfield, a prime motor retail location. The 29,345sq ft purpose built facility includes a showroom, offices, workshop and valeting facilities.
The recently refurbished property is let to VW Group UK and provides a weighted average unexpired lease term of 7.7 years to expiry.
The investor also purchased student accommodation in Salford. Bramall Court, a 94,290sq ft student accommodation block on Cannon Street, less than a mile from the University of Salford campus, was bought for £10.9m.
It is let to Mears Group on a 24-year unexpired lease with annual rent reviews linked to the consumer price index.
Alex Short, director of AEW UK investment management LLP, and portfolio manager of the company said: “We continue to look for opportunities to create shareholder value through targeting alternative property sectors.”
The transactions increase the total amount invested by AEW UK Long Lease REIT since listing to £66.2m. In addition to this, the manager has a further 11 assets under offer and expects to make additional announcements in the coming weeks.
AEW UK Long Lease REIT raised £80.5m from institutional and retail investors at its IPO in June and at that time it stated its expectation to substantially invest the net proceeds within nine months of listing.
The company is targeting an annual dividend of 5.5 pence per share paid quarterly, once fully invested and levered, with an ambition to grow in line with UK inflation (RPI or CPI) thereafter.
It entered the REIT regime with effect from October, 2017 following the submission of the application to HM Revenue and Customs.
