The Regional Office Property Unit Trust, advised and managed by Schroder Real Estate, has exchanged contracts to acquire The Senate in Exeter and London Court in Reigate for a combined price of £27,200,000, which reflects a net initial yield of 7.1%.
The Senate is a multi let office building totalling 69,000 sq ft constructed in 2003 located in Exeter city centre. The property is built over ground and four upper floors and is fully let to tenants including Trowers & Hamlins LLP, Reuters Ltd and Arbuthnot Latham & Co. Ltd. The apportioned price paid was £15,700,000 which reflects a net initial yield of 7.4%.
London Court, a multi-let office building totalling 35,000 sq ft was constructed in 2009 and is located within a short walking distance of both Reigate town centre and Reigate mainline rail station. The property is built over ground and three upper floors and is fully let to four tenants including Tesco Underwriting Ltd and Hyundai Capital UK Ltd. The apportioned price paid was £11,500,000 which reflects a net initial yield of 6.8%.
Tom Newman, Investment Manager at Schroder Real Estate, commented:
“The Senate and London Court are modern, well built buildings let to good covenants in locations that have very little grade A office supply and little to no speculative development in the pipeline.
ROPUT is targeting undersupplied regional office markets by acquiring property offering good fundamentals in target cities and towns with strong and diversified local economies. These are the fifth and sixth acquisitions for the Regional Office Property Unit Trust since launch in 2016 with a further £130 million of funding available for immediate investment.”
Stephen Cahoon, Head of Asset Management UK at Cromwell Property Group, and advisor to the vendor, commented:
“Having created well specified office environments aligned to the requirements of today’s occupier and driven both assets to 100% occupancy we are delighted to have completed a sale to Schroders.”
CBRE and Doherty Baines acted for Schroder Real Estate.