Henderson sells Leeds Retail Park for 6.15% yield

Henderson Global Investors' Retail Warehouse Fund has sold its Junction 27 Retail Park in the UK city of Leeds to the UK Commercial Property Trust for £56.63 mln (about EUR 63 mln). The sale to the UK's largest UK commercial property investment trust reflects a net initial yield of 6.15%. The park forms part of a dominant regional retail location considered to be one of the Top 5 Retail Warehouse locations in the UK.

Junction 27 is a bulky goods retail park totalling 11,300 m² spread across eight units with 540 car parking spaces. Originally developed in 1999, the park's key anchor tenants include Currys, Comet Group, Harveys, Furniture Village and TGI Fridays. The current gross annual rent receivable in respect of the properties is approximately £3.7 mln per annum.

Michael Neal, manager of the Retail Warehouse Fund at Henderson Global Investors commented: 'The sale of the Junction 27 Retail Park provides us with a great opportunity to recycle capital within the fund. We have worked hard on the asset management of the park in order to create value and intend to use the proceeds to acquire new assets where we can clearly identify opportunities to enhance returns for our investors.'

'This asset has performed exceptionally well for the Fund over the last year, having delivered a 12-month total return of approximately 75% at property level. It demonstrates the dramatic positive shift in sentiment that has occurred in the retail warehouse sector particularly for well-managed schemes at the prime end'.