Leading legal business DWF has advised UK property investment company Custodian REIT on its acquisition of a £26.75 million property portfolio. The portfolio of 10 light industrial properties is worth £2.21million in rent for Custodian REIT, with a net initial yield of 7.86%.
The real estate investment trust (REIT) acquired the entire share capital of real estate management company BLME (UK) GP Limited and LIBF (II) Sarl which owned the properties originally, in alignment with its investment strategy and complementing the company’s existing property portfolio. The purchase was funded by Custodian’s existing cash and debt facilities.
DWF real estate partner Jim Speed and corporate partner Gary MacDonald led the deal, with support from teams in the firm’s Edinburgh, Leeds and Newcastle offices.
Jim Speed comments: “We were pleased to have been able to advise Custodian REIT on yet another property acquisition, this one a little more complex with it being a property deal in a corporate wrapper and the first corporate deal undertaken by the client. The team demonstrated great cross-office and cross-team working on this transaction, with real estate advice from Leeds and corporate advice from Edinburgh, highlighting the strength of DWF’s national office network, enabling us to put the right experts on every deal, no matter where in the country they are.”
Richard Shepherd-Cross, Managing Director of Custodian Capital Limited, Custodian REIT’s discretionary investment manager, said: “The portfolio is a strong fit with our investment strategy and is complementary to our existing property portfolio, augmenting our regional, industrial bias and adding diversification by both tenant and location. The team at DWF has worked with us on a number of previous transactions and they have always delivered on time, to budget and to a high-standard.”
DWF’s circa 200-strong real estate team has been involved in several deals for Custodian REIT, including the recent acquisitions of industrial and retail investments at Winsford and Swindon and the landmark acquisition of the £55.1million Indigo Portfolio, comprising four retail sites, three industrial sites and two commercial office properties in January 2016.