UK - Tesco, the global supermarket chain, has signed another sale-and-leaseback deal with pension fund trustees, which will see the fund take a 50% stake in assets worth £458m (€543.5m).

A statement issued by the company said this is the latest phase of the supermarket giant's programme to "release value from its UK property portfolio".

This is slightly different to the deal announced in February, as the transaction is being primarily financed by the issuance of fixed income bonds through Tesco Property Finance 1 plc - described as "the debt issuing entity of the joint venture, credit-linked to Tesco plc".

Under the 50/50 arrangement worth 2.3 million sq ft in internal space, a total of 12 stores will account for 75% of the latest plan, while two distribution centres will make the remaining 25%.

All properties will be leased back to the parent company, Tesco, in a 30-year deal with RPI-linked leases. The average initial yield is expected to be 5.2% on the stores and 6.3% on the distribution centres.

Tesco announced its first £500m sale-and-leaseback deal with the pension fund earlier this year, when it was discovered the pension fund had seen its deficit double to around £1.1bn on a post-tax basis. (See earlier IPE Real Estate article: Tesco pension gets £500m property as every little helps £1.1bn deficit)

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