LondonMetric sells City of London office

UK REIT LondonMetric has disposed of an office property at One Fleet Place in the City of London for £112.5 mln (€130 mln).

The sale price reflects a net initial yield of 5.1% and a premium of 3.2% over the March 2013 book value. The disposal is conditional on freeholder consent and is expected to complete on 5 September 2013.

The property was sold to One Fleet Place Realty Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of a Far Eastern multinational corporation.

The majority of the 15,700 m2 building is let to law firm Dentons with bars and retailers taking up space on the ground floor.

Following the sale, LondonMetric will repay the debt facility on both One Fleet Place and One Carter Lane, London, totalling £96 mln.

The disposal is in line with LondonMetric’s strategy which has been focussed on selective disposals and recycling of proceeds into new investments which offer better opportunities to grow income.

Patrick Vaughan, chairman of LondonMetric, commented: 'The timely sale of Fleet Place conforms to our opportunistic strategy for the City. We bought this well positioned building in 2009, in turbulent markets, but with an outstanding tenant and a long lease, generating a yield of nearly 8%. This was well above the City’s long term average yield range and today’s disposal yield is close to the best of that range, which we consider an appropriate moment to sell.'

Jones Lang LaSalle advised LondonMetric. while James Andrew International advised One Fleet Place Realty.

LondonMetric Property was formed from the merger of London & Stamford Property and Metric Property Investments and carried out its first acquisition - a portfolio of six UK retail warehouses - in January.