Warehouse REIT has exchanged contracts to acquire Bradwell Abbey Industrial Estate, for €74.2m (£62m) excluding acquisition costs. The multi-let industrial estate totals 69 units across circa 335,000ft², ranging from c. 1,000 to 15,000ft² in size. It is located just off the A5, providing fast access to the surrounding population of Milton Keynes and the wider motorway network, with the M1 being six miles to the East. The estate is currently 96% leased to a range of occupiers including Argos, F&F Stores and Taylor Kerr Engineering Ltd and produces a total annual income (including some rental guarantees) of over €3.1m (£2.6m).
Andrew Bird, Managing Director of the Investment Advisor, Tilstone Partners Limited, commented: “This acquisition, provides Warehouse REIT with clear opportunities to generate upside through strategic capital expenditure and working with the existing occupiers. We intend to refurbish units as they become available, improving the estate’s sustainability credentials, enabling us to capture new rental levels which will help drive future rents across the estate and strengthen the covenant profile. Located in one of Warehouse REIT’s favoured locations, the Oxford-Cambridge Arc’s industrial markets are characterised by an acute supply-demand imbalance, driven by the growing dual demand from both industrial and science and technology occupiers. With supply failing to keep up with record levels of take-up, land values have increased rapidly and strong rental growth is forecast.”
