Aprirose, the real estate investment company, has announced the sale of the Sainsbury’s superstore in West Ealing for £33.7m which represents a net initial yield of 3.45%.
The 69,325 sq ft supermarket, which is fully let to Sainsbury’s until 2042, was acquired by Aprirose and STARS REI in 2017. The asset is located close to West Ealing Crossrail station, which is expected to commence service before the summer, with a journey time of 15 minutes to Bond Street Station. The property has been earmarked in the Ealing Local Development Plan for high density residential development, as part of the regeneration of West Ealing town centre.
Founded in 2009, Stars REI is the real estate division of Stars Investments, a Chilean investment management company that handles a privately held financial, private equity and real estate portfolio.
Meenal Devani, Chief Investment Officer at Aprirose, said: “We are very pleased with the sale of this asset, following our investment in 2017. The exit of this asset is the realisation of the clear investment strategy we had in place to acquire income generating properties in Greater London, which will benefit from infrastructure improvements and that are underpinned by exceptional redevelopment potential. We continue to look for similar investment opportunities.”
Cristina Dawson, Head of Asset Management at STARS REI, said: “The sale of Ealing in early 2021 signals to us that a well located, high quality, income generating property can outperform despite the pressures of an economic cycle. We are thrilled to have another successful transaction in the London market, and will continue to look for more investments here.”
Shaun Roy, Partner and Head of Specialist Property Investment at Knight Frank, said: We are pleased to have completed the successful sale of Sainsbury’s Ealing on behalf of Aprirose and STARS REI, with both vendor and purchaser pleased with the outcome. Despite the challenges of the past year, we received widespread interest which demonstrates there remains demand for assets with strong underlying fundamentals from a range of investors.”
Research from global property adviser Knight Frank showed that food stores accounted for 42% of retail property investment in 2020. Contrary to other retail asset classes food store valuations did not decline during the pandemic. Investment demand is expected to remain strong.
Aprirose was advised by Knight Frank.
