Dawnay Day Sirius buys five more German business parks

Dawnay, Day Sirius (DDS) has announced that it has agreed to acquire five more freehold business parks for a total of EUR 103 mln. DDS is the company established by Dawnay Day and Sirius Facilities to purchase large mixed-use commercial real estate in Germany and convert them to flexible workspaces. The five properties provide an average net initial yield of 7.66% and produce rents from EUR 2.36 to 4.92 per m² at an average capital value of EUR 475.4 per m².

The acquisition comes hard on the heels of last month’s purchase of two other German business parks for EUR 26 mln and June’s acquisition of 20 properties for EUR 206 mln. This means that DDS has already invested over EUR 336 mln, or about half of its investible funds, since its admission to AIM in May 2007. The company plans to raise rental and capital values on the properties by converting the vacant space into smaller units to meet local demand from small and medium-sized employers (SMEs) for light industrial and office space.

The largest site of the five is in Neuaubing, near Munich, where the offices, production and warehouse facilities and open storage spaces provide a total lettable area of 97,700 m2, 27,290 m² of which is currently vacant. It is being acquired for EUR 51 mln and has a net initial yield of 7.02%. The 54,803 m² park in Nabern, not far from Stuttgart, will cost EUR 32 mln and provides a net initial yield of 7.17%. The third, costing EUR 10.6 mln, is a 21,825 m² site in Bayreuth and has a net initial yield of 6.82%. The last two each have a total lettable area of around 14,000 m² and are located in Wuppertal and Solingen. They cost EUR 5.1 mln and EUR 4.2 mln respectively and provide net initial yields of 8.25% and 9.02%.