The UK's Home REIT, which focuses on providing accommodation for homeless people, has added 199 properties across England for £85.1 mln (€83.1 mln).
These acquisitions were funded by the net proceeds raised via the oversubscribed £263 mln (€257 mln) equity issue in May 2022.
With the acquisitions announced on 4 July, Home REIT has now invested a total of £170 mln (€166 mln), or 66%, of the funds from the subsequent putting.
The additional 869 beds for those in need bring the total portfolio to 10,421 across 2,150 properties, while at the same time improving regional diversification.
Charlotte Fletcher, Partner at Alvarium Home REIT Advisors Limited, said: ‘This latest tranche of acquisitions represents a significant expansion of our portfolio and allows us to scale up our support for homeless people across the UK. The expeditious deployment of the proceeds of our significantly oversubscribed subsequent placing in May demonstrates the company’s impressive capacity to source attractive investment opportunities and the strength of our relationships with local stakeholders.’
The properties are leased to specialised registered homeless charities and community interest companies for an average 25-year lease at affordable and sustainable rents.
The leases are subject to annual upward-only rent evaluations with a 1% annual collar and a 4% annual limit that are tied to the Consumer Price Index.
Following these deals, the blended net initial yield of the portfolio is higher than anticipated and each of the properties is already providing income.
The purchases were financed from the £300 mln (€293 mln) acquisition pipeline, under due diligence and legal negotiation since earlier this year.
The Board of Home REIT has also disclosed that Alex Baker has joined Gareth Jones and Charlotte Fletcher within the senior management team at Home REIT Advisors Limited, the company’s investment adviser.
Baker is a chartered surveyor, qualifying at Cushman & Wakefield (formerly DTZ), and previously worked in Fiera Real Estate’s (formerly Palmer Capital) value-add fund management team.
