LondonMetric acquires retail park as it offloads £58m of non-core assets
LondonMetric Property has acquired a retail park on the outskirts of Basildon, Essex for £10m, as the group disposes £58m of non-core assets.
Located adjacent to the A13, Old Market Retail Park is let to Pets at Home, Poundland, Farmfoods, McDonald’s, and KFC. The scheme has a weighted average unexpired lease term of five years.
The real estate investment trust has also sold 24 properties across various non-core sectors. The disposals included 22 LXi properties acquired after the two firms merged earlier this year.
The assets comprised:
- A 73,000 sq ft Asda foodstore in Halesowen, sold for £28.0 million.
- A leisure asset in Hamilton, sold for £9.0 million.
- Five pubs across various locations, sold for a total of £8.2 million.
- 12 assisted living assets, sold for £6.7 million.
- Three Travelodge hotels in Perth, Carlisle and Stonehouse, sold for £4.0 million.
- A small development site in London and a Boots retail unit in Bangor, sold for £2.0 million.
Since 31 March 2024, LondonMetric has sold 52 assets for a total £209 million, reflecting a net initial yield of 7.6%.
Andrew Jones, chief executive of LondonMetric, said: “These are a series of excellent disposals reflecting our strategy of exiting assets and sectors that are incompatible with the listed REIT sector. We are redeploying the proceeds into winning sectors and higher quality assets that will provide better income reliability, predictability and trajectory.”