Europa Capital, acting together with joint venture partner Addington Capital, has sold the Lancelot portfolio, a portfolio of 29 residential properties let on statutory tenancies and located predominantly in London and the South East, to Mountview Estates Plc for €12.3m (£10.6m). The properties comprise 17 houses and 12 flats all leased on regulated, assured and life tenancies, providing a current gross rent of €303,488 (£261,243) per annum.
The properties were acquired by the joint venture in October 2018 as part of the Project Merlin acquisition – a portfolio of mostly old housing stock in Greater London comprising 202 units (43 houses and 153 flats) for circa €64m (£55m). Addington Capital has been asset managing the properties since with its sister property management and leasing company, AddLiving, providing property management.
Matthew Allen, Principal at Addington Capital said: “As a standalone regulated portfolio, Lancelot presented a relatively rare opportunity to acquire this kind of reversionary interests in bulk. The last of these statutory tenancies were created in 1989 and so there’s a dwindling supply. We ran a competitive process and Mountview, as a specialist buyer, is very familiar with the kind of stock and was a reliable counterparty. We have been actively managing the Merlin portfolio since the acquisition, looking for opportunities to re-package the properties and enhance value.”
