Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva, has acquired three logistics warehouses from fashion retailer Next through its Lime property fund for £107 mln (€122 mln).
The three distribution units are located in South Elmsall in South Yorkshire, between Wakefield and Doncaster, and together total more than 110,000 m2 of floor space, forming a key part of Next’s national online storage and distribution capability.
As part of the acquisition, Aviva Investors will lease the units back to Next.
Renos Booth, head of real estate long income at Aviva Investors, said: 'We are pleased to have acquired these assets and to have agreed on a sale-and-leaseback arrangement with Next, allowing access to a robust portfolio of warehouses, with a high-quality tenant.
'We believe that the logistics sector will continue to be resilient in the longer-term, as retail firms enhance their distribution capabilities. Our expectation is that these types of assets will therefore be strong contributors to performance in our portfolio.'
Launched in 2004, the Lime Property Fund is a long income real estate fund with a net asset value of £2.7 bn, as at 31 December 2019.
The fund management team targets property investments that provide inflation-linked or fixed rental uplifts let to tenants on leases of over 15 years, cross-sector, UK wide.
