AEW UK Long Lease REIT plc (“the Company”) is pleased to announce the acquisition of Motorpoint Birmingham for £8m. The acquisition reflects a net initial yield of 5.85%.
The showroom is located on Lichfield Road, 2 miles north of Birmingham City Centre. The prominent 68,002 sq ft site is let to Motorpoint, the UK’s largest independent used vehicle retailer. It comprises a modern, detached two storey vehicle dealership with three large showrooms, as well as a 1.69 acre compound to store 350 cars. The property provides a weighted average unexpired lease term of 19.6 years to expiry and has RPI linked reviews.
Alex Short, Director of AEW UK Investment Management LLP, and Portfolio Manager of the Company said: “We are delighted to have completed this acquisition, further broadening the diversity of our investments. We continue to look for opportunities to create shareholder value through targeting alternative property sectors.”
The transaction increases the total amount invested by AEW UK Long Lease REIT plc since listing to £49m. In addition to this, the Manager has a further 13 assets under offer and expects to make additional announcements in the coming weeks.
AEW UK Long Lease REIT plc raised £80.5m from institutional and retail investors at its IPO in June and at that time it stated its expectation to substantially invest the net proceeds within nine months of listing. The Company is targeting an annual dividend of 5.5 pence per share paid quarterly, once fully invested and levered, with an ambition to grow in line with UK inflation (RPI or CPI) thereafter.
The Company entered the REIT regime with effect from 13 October 2017 following the submission of the application to HM Revenue and Customs.