European property investment and asset management firm Avignon Capital has completed two transactions on behalf of Beirut-based Cedrus Invest Bank for over €50 mln.
Avignon completed the sale of Danzigerkade 16, a creative office building in Amsterdam and has reinvested the proceeds into a portfolio of Waitrose supermarkets in Glasgow.
Acquired in Q3 2018, Avignon identified Danzigerkade 16 as an opportunity to purchase a brand-new office building in a developing area of Amsterdam at a significant discount to prime rents and yields.
The portfolio of two Waitrose stores (Byres Road and West Retail Park), are both situated in affluent locations and performing well despite the Covid-19 crisis.
Phil Walker, head of Investment Management at Avignon Capital, said: ‘The Waitrose portfolio benefits from attractive lease terms and additionally gives our client exposure to an increasingly attractive Covid-19 resistant sector. The UK supermarket sector is benefiting from solid market fundamentals, and we are actively seeking more exposure to the sector.’
One of Avignon’s key strategies for 2021 will be focusing on the ‘essential retail’ sector as we look to capitalise on institutions under pressure to reduce their retail weightings, he added.
