Yorkshire assets traded as LondonMetric shuffles pack
The investor has made £70m of warehouse acquisitions including a Leeds building, and disposed of £50m non-core holdings including car showrooms in York and Doncaster.
LondonMetric Property’s £70m of acquisitions comprise seven warehouses with a average unexpired lease term of 15 years, acquired at a blended net initial yield of 5.8%, with 91% of rent subject to open market reviews.
They comprise two sheds of around 200,000 sq ft in Avonmouth and Wednesbury, and five trade warehouses totalling 113,000 sq ft and traded for £18.9m: two of them are occupied by Travis Perkins, including the Leeds asset.
The £50m of disposals consist of ten former LXi assets and a former CTPT asset, which have been sold at a blended NIY of 7.2% and in line with 31 March 2024 book values.
Yorkshire assets in this cluster include a 34,000 sq ft car showroom in York let to Vertu, sold for £10.5m; and an 18,000 sq ft Nissan showroom in Doncaster, let go for £2.5m.
Andrew Jones, chief executive of LondonMetric, said: “We have been very clear on our desire to monetise some assets acquired from our corporate takeovers. We have now sold c.£100m of LXi assets, with 13 of the 16 non-core CTPT assets also sold at an average of 14% above our original underwrite values.
“We have successfully reinvested these proceeds into high quality properties, in stronger sectors that will deliver accelerated income growth.”
LondonMetric also offloaded non-core stock amounting to around £31m in May, simultaneously ploughing £45m into urban warehousing. In January, the firm paid £21.2m for a 260,000 sq ft Next distribution hub in Doncaster.
