International real estate adviser Savills has advised Roadside Real Estate’s joint venture with Meadow Partners on the forward funding of a portfolio of 12 Lidl Great Britain sites for circa £70 mln (€84 mln).
The portfolio is spread across England and Scotland, with locations including Alexandria, Birmingham, Bovey Tracey, Bristol, Crediton, Downham Market, Hull, Manchester, Northampton, Reading, Redcar, and Saffron Walden. Completion of the stores is expected between late October 2024 and February 2025.
The joint venture continues to progress its acquisition pipeline focusing on well-located investment and development opportunities of UK-based convenience stores and roadside real estate sites, as part of its strategy to create an institutional-grade asset portfolio.
Simon Jones, Roadside Real Estate’s property director, said: 'We’re delighted to have worked with Lidl on the funding of 12 new stores across the UK, especially as it is one of fastest growing food retailers in the country.
'We have a strong pipeline of acquisitions and envisage reaching £150 mln of acquisitions in the first 12 months of the joint venture.'
George Trimmer, associate, UK investment, Savills, added: 'This is a unique opportunity to forward fund the construction of 12 supermarkets let to Lidl Great Britain Limited.
'The foodstores will be let on 25-year leases, which offers both stability and growth, providing a reliable long-term income stream with the added benefit of annual indexation. In addition, the sale and leaseback arrangement offers Lidl an excellent opportunity to unlock capital, while retaining operational control.'
Richard Taylor, chief development officer at Lidl GB, said: 'We have big ambitions for our expansion, which includes plans to open hundreds more Lidl stores in the future.
'This deal is just the latest example of how we’re continuing to expand our footprint across the country, ensuring that even more households can benefit from a Lidl store. We look forward to a long and productive relationship with Roadside, Meadow and the JV.'
Andrew McDaniel, founding partner, Meadow Partners added: 'We are delighted to expand the Joint Venture and to deploy substantial capital for an institutional-quality portfolio.
'The acquisition of the Lidl portfolio is consistent with Meadow’s high conviction theme of acquiring long-dated credit income assets trading at historically wide yields in high-quality submarkets on or next to major local thoroughfares.
'The Lidl portfolio demonstrates the value of Roadside’s approach to asset selection and active management strategy and the resilient long-term returns available in this attractive sub-sector of the real estate market. We look forward to continuing to identify attractive opportunities to grow our partnership in the future.'
The joint venture was advised by Mishcon de Reya with Todd Wu leading the transactional team. Trimmer at Savills provided investment advice to the joint venture.
