Warehouse REIT, the AIM-listed company that invests in e-commerce urban and last-mile industrial warehouse assets in the UK, has completed the acquisition of two single-let warehouse assets located in the East Midlands and Cheshire, occupied by Amazon and Wincanton respectively.
The assets have been purchased in two separate transactions for a total of £82 mln (€92 mln), reflecting a blended net initial yield of 5.4%. The properties carry a combined weighted average unexpired lease term of nine years.
The acquisitions follow the company’s capital raise that completed last month, delivering equity of £153 mln and over £200 mln of investment firepower.
The East Midlands property is a prime 500,000 sq ft fulfilment centre let to Amazon UK on a full repairing and insuring lease with over 13 years remaining, benefitting from five-yearly upward-only rent reviews with no breaks. The company purchased the asset for a cash consideration of £57 mln from Tritax Big Box REIT.
The second acquisition comprises a 374,000 sq ft single-let warehouse located adjacent to the multi-let estate at Midpoint 18 in Middlewich, Cheshire, which was acquired by the company last year and increases Warehouse REIT’s total holding at this location to over 550,000 sq ft. The asset, acquired for a cash consideration of £25 mln, is occupied by Wincanton Holdings, the UK’s largest third party logistics operator, and has 3.5 years remaining on its lease.
Andrew Bird, managing director of the investment advisor, Tilstone Partners Limited, commented: ‘We look forward to integrating these assets into the wider portfolio, while we continue to work through our pipeline of identified opportunities for the REIT to deploy the remaining proceeds from the recent equity raise ahead of schedule and allow the targeted scale to be achieved, whilst driving shareholder returns.’
