News / REIT on a shopping spree for UK warehouse assets after IPO

© Dmitry Kalinovsky

Warehouse REIT, a specialist UK urban logistics fund followed last week’s £150m initial public offering in London today with the acquisition of four multi-let industrial estates for £26.25m

Two are located in the UK north-west, one in the Midlands and one in the south-east and are all either in urban areas or on strategic infrastructure links. They have a total floor area of 603,000sq ft and REIT says they generate an annual net rent of £2.11m.

“With average passing rent equating to £3.50 per sq foot, the company believes there is potential for long term rental growth,” it said in a statement.

The deal follows the acquisition of the Tilstone property portfolio, “27 freehold and long-leasehold warehouse assets” in the immediate aftermath of the IPO for £108.85m. It has 129 tenants, incuding retailers Boots, Amazon, Asda and Selco Trade Centres.

“Occupier demand for urban warehouse space is increasing, as the structural growth in e-commerce has driven the rise in internet shopping and investment by retailers in the ‘last-mile’ delivery sector,” said REIT.

“The urban warehouse sector offers one of, if not the highest initial yield of all UK property sectors,” the company added.

At the time of its IPO, the firm said it had identified a further £88m of investments, which means it is still looking at spending another £60m-plus following today’s acquisitions.