TR Property Investment Trust, a FTSE 250 company, has purchased two industrial properties in Northampton and Bicester—its first acquisitions since 2015.
This is part of a strategy to increase its physical asset holdings (to approximately 10% of its portfolio) by focusing on high-growth light industrial markets.
TR Property acquired an 11,148 m2 multi-let industrial estate in Bicester, Oxfordshire for £16.05 mln (€19.25 mln), yielding 5.75% net initially. This property offers value-creation potential through lease improvements, rent increases, and sustainable upgrades (e.g., solar PV) to improve its current C and D EPC ratings, mirroring their recent A+ EPC achievement at the Ferrier Street Industrial Estate in Wandsworth, London.
TR Property also purchased a 2,787 m2 light industrial unit in Northampton for £3.25 mln (€3.90 mln), yielding 7.5% net initially. The property has a seven-year lease with a rent review in two years.
George Gay, Direct Property Fund manager at TR Property, commented: ‘These acquisitions mark our first foray back into purchasing physical assets for almost ten years and underscores our focus on core rental growth markets such as light industrial. Our investment team has long recognised the resilience and growth potential of light industrial assets, particularly in light of UK businesses efforts to de-risk global supply chains. As we aim to move our direct weighting closer to 10 per cent, we continue to search for further acquisitions.’
Although primarily invested in REITs and listed property companies, TR Property can hold up to 15% of its assets in UK real estate. Its closed-ended structure protects it from the liquidity problems affecting open-ended property funds.
C Squared and Mishcon De Reya advised TR Property on the Bicester acquisition, while TDB Real Estate and Womble Bond Dickinson advised on the Northampton acquisition.
