British Land snaps up £45m retail warehouse portfolio

British Land has acquired a portfolio of three UK retail warehouse assets from M7 Box+ II, a fund managed by M7 Real Estate, for over £45m.

St David’s Retail Park in Bangor, Queens Drive Retail Park in Kilmarnock and Enham Arch Retail Park in Andover, comprise a total of over 270,000 sq ft of retail warehouse space, with strong occupancy levels and a blended weighted average lease term (WALT) of over five years.

Since acquiring the assets on behalf of M& Box+ II in 2020, M7 said it has successfully re-geared a number of leases with key tenants and leased vacant units improving income profile and WALT.

M7 manages a number of retail warehouse assets across the UK, with a current portfolio under management totalling over 2 million sq ft. Following the sale, four assets remain in M7 Box+ II’s portfolio.

John Pow, managing director at M7 Real Estate, said: “This transaction marks the conclusion of our asset management strategy for these assets and generates a solid return for our investors. The sale allows the fund to return equity back to investors whilst we continue to work through the asset management strategy for the remaining four assets. The retail warehousing sector continues to perform well and remains highly attractive to investors and occupiers. The sector plays an integral role in the ecosystem for retailers, including increasingly for last mile delivery and click-and-collect. We are now focused on recycling capital into high growth assets within our preferred sectors of logistics and retail warehouses.”

M7 was advised by Savills.