Hansteen Holdings announced that it has sold 27 UK assets during Q4 2013 for a total of £76.4 million (approx. €92 million), reflecting a net initial yield of 7.1%.
As some of the properties were in funds that Hansteen manages and co-invests in, Hansteen’s share of the profit will be £4.2 million. The disposals comprise 16 individual assets and a portfolio of 11 estates in the South West of England. The sales included Horndon Industrial Estate, Essex, The Malthouse Estate, Shoreham, Sussex and Vernon Park, Wolverhampton.
A further 13 individual UK commercial properties were sold at £14.4 million, reflecting a net initial yield of 6.71%.
Hansteen and HPUT have also sold an 11 asset portfolio of multi-let industrial estates located across the South West. The portfolio, totaling 373,842 ft², includes Aztec West Business Park in Bristol, Treloggan Industrial Estate in Newquay and Kernick Road, Falmouth. The portfolio was sold with 93.5% occupancy following extensive asset management since the first estate was purchased in 2011. Hansteen has undertaken 91 transactions since acquisition, letting 102,426 ft² of new space and carrying out some £473,000 of lease renewals. The portfolio was sold to a UK institution for £25.2 million, representing a net initial yield of 7.9%.
Morgan Jones, Joint Chief Executive of Hansteen, commented: “These sales are precisely in line with our strategy of buying at high yields with significant vacancies, managing the properties intensively through our teams on the ground, and then selling at lower yields to satisfy institutional demand.”
Mark Ovens, Director (UK), added: "At the beginning of 2013 we sensed that Q4 would be a good time to sell multi let industrials. We spent the summer preparing a group of properties, marketed them in September and sold them in late December, predominantly to institutional buyers. It is good to see the institutions back buying multi let industrial property, and in so doing, acknowledging the resilient income stream and that rental growth is starting to return to the sector.”
Source: Hansteen Holdings
