Aver Property, the joint venture between Ergo Real Estate and NFU Mutual, has completed the acquisition of six UK assets for £100m.
They include two retail properties in Aintree and Southampton for a combined £40m, two office buildings in Birmingham for £12m and the forward purchase of two speculative industrial developments in Bicester and Markham Vale for a combined £47m.
In Aintree, the jv has acquired Switch Island Retail Park, which is six miles north of Liverpool, from Columbia Threadneedle. The 171,902 sq ft park has eight occupiers – B&M Home Store, Matalan, JD Gyms, Dunelm, Subway, Odeon Luxe, McDonalds and Hungry Horse – and a weighted average unexpired lease term of 11 years.
The retail property in Southampton is a B&Q store on Nursling Industrial Estate bought in a sale-and-leaseback transaction. The lease runs for a further 15 years.
The two 10-storey office buildings acquired in Birmingham from Angelo Gordon and Dunedin Property are on the Great Charles Street Estate, close to the Paradise and Arena Central regeneration schemes on the northern edge of the city centre.
The buildings, Charles House and 154 Great Charles Street, comprise respectively 33,446 sq ft and 33,636 sq ft, of which a third of the space is vacant.
In Bicester, Aver has forward purchased Axis J9, a 200,617 sq ft development of five industrial buildings near Junction 9 of the M40, from Howes Lane and Albion Land. The development is on site and due for completion in September 2020.
The other industrial acquisition is in Markham Vale, where Aver has forward purchased the final phase of Markham Vale North, a 70-acre industrial and logistics development by Junction 29a of the M1, from Henry Boot Developments. The two units of 220,000 sq ft and 75,000 sq ft are expected to be on site early in 2020 with completion in 2021.
Martin Jepson, co-founder of Ergo Real Estate, said: “These six properties are excellent additions for the partnership. They provide a good mix of geographical and sector diversification and take the fund’s committed capital to around £130m.”
“The two retail properties delivery very strong income off low rents at a good yield, proving that not all retail is bad. The speculative industrial developments are in areas of strong demand and low supply, and we are confident they will lease well, whilst the two office properties in Birmingham provide an attractive repositioning opportunity off low rents”.
Aver Property was advised by Colliers International, Avison Young, Knight Frank and CBRE. Cushman & Wakefield, Burbage Realty and Savills acted for the vendors.
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