AEW UK REIT dispose of high performing retail park

RNS Number : 8924R

AEW UK REIT PLC

27 September 2017

 

27 September 2017

AEW UK REIT plc completes disposal of Belfast Valley Retail Park for £11.05m

AEW UK REIT plc ("the Company"), which directly owns a diversified portfolio of regional UK commercial property assets, is pleased to announce the sale of Valley Retail Park, Newtonabbey, Belfast for £11.05m to a Northern Ireland controlled Pension Fund.

Valley Retail Park comprises 7 modern purpose-built retail warehouse units and is currently fully let to 5 tenants providing a WAULT of 9 years to break and 11.5 years to expiry.

The Company originally purchased the 100,413 sq ft property for £7.1m in 2015 with a WAULT of only 3 years to break and vacancy in excess of 20%. The Company's proactive asset management activity has added significant value with new lettings to Go Outdoors for a 20 year term and Smyths Toys for a term of 15 years.

Alex Short, Portfolio Manager, AEW UK REIT, commented: "We have added substantial value to this property within a period of approximately 2 years, repositioning its offer with new retail anchor tenants and improving footfall. Due to the completion of the asset's business plan we feel that now is the most beneficial time to dispose of it, particularly given our pipeline of attractive investment opportunities for the Company."

AEW UK REIT announced on 11 September 2017 that it intends to undertake a 12 month share issuance programme and is seeking to raise a target amount of £40m under the initial issue, with the ability to increase up to a maximum of £60m. Further details of the Initial Issue will be announced on the publication of the Prospectus, alongside a circular convening a general meeting to seek shareholder approval for the Issuance Programme, later this month, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals. Subject to shareholder approval, the new Shares under the Initial Issue will be issued and commence trading by the end of October 2017.

ENDS

About AEW UK REIT

AEW UK REIT plc (LSE: AEWU) aims to deliver an attractive total return to shareholders by investing predominantly in smaller commercial properties (typically less than £10 million), on shorter occupational leases in strong commercial locations across the United Kingdom. The Company was listed on the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and admitted to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange on 12 May 2015, raising £100.5m. Since IPO it has raised a further £23m.

Since its IPO in May 2015, AEWU has invested a total of £144 million across regional commercial property assets. It is currently invested in office, retail, industrial and leisure assets, with a focus on active asset management, repositioning the properties and improving the quality of the income stream.

AEWU is currently paying an annualised dividend of 8p per share.

www.aewukreit.com 

About AEW UK Investment Management LLP

AEW UK Investment Management LLP employs a well-resourced team comprising 25 individuals covering investment, asset management, operations and strategy. It is part of AEW Group, one of the world's largest real estate managers, with €58.5 billion of assets under management as at 30 June 2017. AEW Group comprises AEW SA and AEW Capital Management L.P., a U.S. registered investment manager and their respective subsidiaries. In Europe, as at 30 June 2017, AEW Group managed €26.0 billion in value in properties of all types located in 15 countries, with over 380 staff. The Investment Manager is a 50:50 joint venture between the principals of the Investment Manager and AEW.

Enquiries:

AEW UK

Alex Short	[e-mail]
Laura Elkin	[phone] [e-mail]
Nicki Gladstone	[phone] [e-mail]
	[phone]
Company Secretary
Capita Company Secretarial Services Limited	[phone]
Media Enquiries: Temple Bar Advisory (Financial PR advisor) Ed Orlebar Tom Allison Lucy Featherstone	[e-mail]   [phone] [phone] [phone]

About AEW Europe

AEW is one of the world's largest real estate asset managers, with €58.5bn of assets under management as at 30 June 2017. AEW has over 600 employees, with its main offices located in Boston, London, Paris and Hong Kong and offers a wide range of real estate investment products including comingled funds, separate accounts and securities mandates across the full spectrum of investment strategies. AEW represents the real estate asset management platform of Natixis Global Asset Management, one of the largest asset managers in the world.

As at 30 June 2017, AEW managed €26.0bn of real estate assets in Europe on behalf of a number of funds and separate accounts. AEW has over 380 employees based in 10 offices across Europe and has a long track record of successfully implementing core, value-add and opportunistic investment strategies on behalf of its clients. In the last five years, AEW has invested and divested a total volume of over €17.5bn of real estate across European markets.

 

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