Several industrial properties acquired in multi-million pound deal
Stenprop, the UK multi-let industrial property company, has completed the acquisition of 100 industrial units in five separate transactions for a price of £16.7m.
Three of the acquisitions are in Yorkshire:
- Hillfoot Industrial Estate, Sheffield
- Armthorpe Enterprise Centre, Doncaster
- Unit 5, Holbrook Enterprise Park, Sheffield
The Hillfoot and Armthorpe estates were two of the three acquired as a portfolio from Westbrook Partners for £10.2m, reflecting a net initial yield of 6.0%. They have 81 units, totalling 137,695 sq ft, of which 11% are vacant. The total annual passing rent of £642,460 equates to an average rent of £5.27/sq ft. Stenprop was represented by CPP for the acquisitions of Hillfoot and Armthorpe and by Collingwood Rigby for the acquisition of Trident.
The single unit at Holbrook Enterprise Park, where the wider estate was purchased as part of the Pegasus Portfolio transaction in December 2018, was acquired for £201,500, reflecting a net initial yield of 7.65%.
Julian Carey, Stenprop’s Executive Property Director, said: “These properties are all purpose-built multi-let industrial, which meet our acquisition criteria in terms of location and returns. We look forward to rolling out our Industrials operating platform on these estates. We have a number of other similar acquisitions under review, which we hope to complete in the coming months”.
Stenprop’s strategic objective is to deliver sustainable, growing income to shareholders which is best achieved by becoming a specialised UK multi-let industrial (MLI) property company. This strategic repositioning means that Stenprop intends, over the next few years, to sell all of its non-MLI assets and utilise the sale proceeds to build a focused UK MLI business.
Following these latest acquisitions, MLI assets account for 43.9% of Stenprop’s portfolio. MLI assets are expected to comprise approximately 60% of Stenprop’s total portfolio of properties by 31 March 2020.
