LGP buys Sainsbury’s supermarket in London

Legal & General Property (LGP) has purchased a Sainsbury’s supermarket in West London from Aviva Investors.

The property, located in the Hayes district, changed hands for for a total of £72.5 mln (€85 mln). It comprises a 9,700 m2 supermarket and 14-pump petrol station.

The supermarket is let to Sainsbury’s on a 115-year lease, with 27 years remaining until first break.

'Having acquired the asset in January 2010, this was an opportunity for us to capture some strong performance from what is a well-let, well-located supermarket with extensive parking provision on an excellent retail park,' said Philip Nell, head of Retail Property Funds at Aviva Investors.

James Watson, head of Investment at BCL which advised the vendor, said that the bond-like characteristics of these types of investments have made them very popular with investors looking to invest directly rather than in bonds themselves. 'Last year, more than £1 bn of supermarket assets was traded and 90% of these were bought by funds,' he added.

JLL acted for Legal & General Property.