Pacific Industrial & Logistics has announced a placing of new ordinary shares to raise gross proceeds of €56.8m (£50m) to fund the acquisition of a pipeline of UK urban logistics assets with a gross acquisition cost of €83.6m (£73.6m).The placing and acquisition support the Company’s strategy to build a specialist portfolio of high-quality, last mile and regional (sub-€11.4m (£10m)) single-let urban logistics assets in the UK. Tenant demand in this chosen sub-sector remains strong as occupiers address the challenges of e-commerce, modern logistics and evolving infrastructure demands.
Pacific Industrial & Logistics has evaluated a range of potential acquisitions that meet its investment objective and are in line with the Company’s investment policy. Within the opportunities currently being considered, the Company has commenced initial due diligence and surveys on two portfolios and a single asset of well-located urban logistics assets that are available to acquire in separate off-market transactions. The aggregate gross acquisition cost of approximately €83.6m (£73.6m) reflects a blended Net Initial Yield of 6.6%. The Directors believe there is significant potential to grow rents and lengthen leases over the medium term. The portfolios have strong existing tenant bases, are fully occupied, have a WAULT of 6.5 years and offer attractive reversionary potential.
Nigel Rich, Non-Executive Chairman, commented: "The proposed Placing and Acquisition presents another opportunity to add high-quality UK urban logistics assets to our existing portfolio. With the scale we now have in the Company and through our active asset management programme, there is significant upward momentum in our rent roll and capital value. Our investment policy continues to focus on the smaller single-let properties which businesses need to meet the challenges of modern commercial and logistics patterns."
Rich also revealed that the company intends to change its name to “Urban Logistics REIT plc”, as it believes this change will better reflect the Company’s focus and investment and growth strategy.
