LondonMetric invests in five Wickes warehouses

18th Sep 2013 07:49

FTSE 250-listed real estate firm LondonMetric Property (LMP) has acquired a portfolio of five standalone Wickes retail warehouses across the UK, spending a total of 28m pounds.LMP, which mainly invests in retail and distribution properties, made the purchase through the Metric Income Plus Limited Partnership (MIPP), LMP's joint venture with Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) set up in November 2011. To date, MIPP has invested £126m (net of acquisition costs) in a total of 16 schemes.The transaction, made using MIPP's existing loans, reflects an average net initial yield of 7.2% and will produce an average cash-on-cash return of around 10% per annum."This off-market acquisition underlines the strength of our retail relationships both in the investment and occupational market," said LMP's Chief Executive Andrew Jones. He said that the company is already in discussions with Wickes to extend the unexpired lease terms and progress various "development initiatives" in partnership with them. The average unexpired lease term across the portfolio is 10 years."The acquisition of these units is consistent with MIPP's robust metrics of full occupancy, long unexpired lease terms and a strong yield on cost of around 7.25%," Jones added.BC