Legal & General, on behalf of its LGIM Real Assets managed fund, has inked five deals totalling £150 mln (€177 mln) across the UK, in a range of asset classes.
The mixed portfolio, including properties in the office, retail, leisure and industrial sectors, totals some 600,000 ft2 (55,750 m2). The acqusitions bring the total value of the fund to over £3.bn, and come off the back of increased flows into the fund.
The purchase of 20,821 ft2 of offices at 45 Folgate Street in Spitalfields for £26.8 mln marks LGIM Real Assets’ return to buying prime properties in central London with excellent ESG credentials.
Following an extensive refurbishment in 2017, the building benefits from an EPC rating of B, renewable energy resources and over 1,200 ft2 of outside amenities. The property is situated in a prime location where the City meets Shoreditch and Spitalfields.
The fund has also completed the purchase of a major mixed-use institutional asset in Brighton city centre. Situated on Jubilee Street, the 49,154 ft2 mixed-use asset includes retail units and high-quality office spaces.
The fund has also picked up the Porto Portfolio, comprising six freehold multi-let industrial estates across the East, South East and South West of England. Representing a total of 403,087 ft2 of industrial space, it houses a mix of 23 local and national long-term occupiers across 32 units.
This deal closely followed the purchase of 2 Eastways – an industrial unit in Witham, where the fund owns the adjoining industrial estate, for £9.25 mln – plus two units at Meadowhall Retail Park in Sheffield for £3.6m, giving the fund total control of the park.
Said Rob Codling, senior fund manager at LGIM: 'Acquisitions of prime assets across offices, logistics and leisure sectors falls in line with the Managed Fund’s strategy of increasing weightings in these markets.
'45 Folgate Street, Jubilee Street, and the Porto Portfolio are exemplary demonstrations of the high-quality investments LGIM Real Assets are pursuing, while the purchases in Witham and Sheffield bring marriage value to the fund through increasing adjoining ownership.'
