LondonMetric Portfolio Repositioning Continues

RNS Number : 5978R

LondonMetric Property PLC

15 September 2014

 



15 September 2014

LONDONMETRIC PROPERTY PLC

LONDONMETRIC PORTFOLIO REPOSITIONING CONTINUES

LondonMetric Property Plc ("LondonMetric" or the "Company") announces one acquisition on behalf of the Metric Income Plus Partnership ("MIPP"), and the disposal of two wholly owned assets, with a total transaction value of £23.4 million.

Acquisition:

o  At Liskeard, MIPP, LondonMetric's joint venture (the "Joint Venture") with Universities Superannuation Scheme ("USS") has exchanged contracts to acquire Liskeard Retail Park in Cornwall from a private property company for £9.0 million, reflecting a net initial yield of 6.2%. The 43,800 sq ft retail park is let to Homebase, Pets at Home and Argos at average rents of £13.45 psf. The most recent letting was in 2010 at £16.50 psf. The park has an unexpired lease term of 12.8 years.

As part of the Company's strategy to become an equal shareholder in MIPP, the acquisition will be funded entirely by LondonMetric from existing resources. Upon completion of the transaction LondonMetric's ownership in MIPP will rise to 46%.

The Joint Venture has also signed an extended debt facility with the Deutsche Pfandbrief Bank (PBB), extending the facility to £125 million and the term to January 2020 to match the extended life of the joint venture. Assuming the facility was fully drawn, the cost of debt will reduce to 3.7% from 4.3%.

Disposals:

o  At Crawley, LondonMetric has completed the disposal of its Forest House office to Mayfair Capital on behalf of the Property Income Trust for Charities for £12.9 million, reflecting an exit yield to LondonMetric of 6.7%. The 38,000 sq ft property is let in its entirety to Bard Limited until 2029.

o  At Launceston, LondonMetric has completed the disposal of the Carpetright and Topps Tiles units adjacent to its Launceston Retail Park to a private investor for £1.5 million, reflecting an exit yield of 7.0%. The average unexpired lease term is 7.4 years.

Andrew Jones, Chief Executive of LondonMetric, commented:

"The off-market purchase of Liskeard is a great opportunity to acquire a good trading asset with a strong tenant line-up and excellent reversionary potential. It is consistent with MIPP's investment criteria of acquiring well let assets on long leases. The acquisition will show an immediate 7.5% return on equity.

"Investor demand for well let assets continues to strengthen which has enabled us to dispose of two non-core assets for attractive prices."

LondonMetric was advised by Strutt & Parker on Liskeard; by Savills on Crawley and by Allsops on Launceston.

-Ends-

For further information, please contact:

LondonMetric Property Plc

Andrew Jones / Martin McGann

Tel: [phone]

FTI Consulting

Dido Laurimore/Nina Legge

Tel: [phone]          

USS     

Kathleen MacMillan at Redwood Consulting

Tel: [phone]

About LondonMetric Property Plc

LondonMetric (ticker: LMP) aims to deliver attractive returns for shareholders through a strategy of increasing income and improving capital values. It invests across the UK in Retail and predominantly retailer led Distribution properties. It employs an occupier-led approach to property investments through opportunistic acquisitions, joint ventures, active asset management and short cycle developments. The asset focus is on properties with enduring occupier appeal providing opportunities to improve both rental values and the security and longevity of income; and limited risk redevelopments with the aim of enhancing shareholder returns.

Further information on LondonMetric is available at www.londonmetric.com

About Universities Superannuation Scheme

Universities Superannuation Scheme was established in 1975 as the principal defined benefit pension scheme for universities and other higher education institutions in the UK.  It has over 330,000 scheme members across nearly 400 institutions and is the largest private sector pension scheme in the UK, with total fund assets of approximately £42 billion and property assets totalling approximately £2.8 billion.

The scheme's trustee is Universities Superannuation Scheme Ltd, a corporate trustee which provides scheme management and trusteeship from its offices based in Liverpool and London.  The trustee company delegates implementation of its investment strategy to a wholly-owned investment management subsidiary company - USS Investment Management Limited - which provides in-house investment management and advisory services.

For more information on Universities Superannuation Scheme please go to www.uss.co.uk

 

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