AEW UK Long Lease REIT plc (“the Company”) is pleased to announce the acquisition of Applegreen Petrol Filling Station, Crawley for £3.82m. The acquisition price reflects a net initial yield of 5.3% and provides the Company with a lease term of 15 years to expiry (no breaks) with three-yearly rental uplifts linked to RPI, capped at 3.5%.
The asset is situated on the busy Crawley Avenue (A23) dual-carriageway, one mile to the west of Crawley town centre. The A23 connects the major towns on the south coast with Crawley and continues northward to London. The property comprises a modern Applegreen branded petrol station comprehensively refurbished by the operator in 2015 and occupying a large site of 1.5 acres. The facility provides eight filling points as well as parking for 20 cars, a convenience store, Greggs bakery, Subway sandwich shop and an off-licence.
Alex Short, Director of AEW UK Investment Management LLP, and Portfolio Manager of the Company said: “The income stream provides a strong fit with the Company’s investment requirements and in addition is secured against the strong covenant of Applegreen. We were particularly attracted by its South East location and strong trading figures. With some uncertainty surrounding the long term future of the vehicle fuel sales market we are reassured by the site’s diverse use, not solely relying on fuel sales, and also the operator’s proactive approach in having already begun fitting electric vehicle charging points to a number of their existing network facilities. The site’s large size and strong underlying residual value also provided comfort.”
The transaction increases the total amount invested by AEW UK Long Lease REIT plc since listing to c £90m. In addition to this, the Manager has a further 2 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. On the 8 January 2018, the Group announced that it had entered into a new £30 million term loan facility with Canada Life Investments. The term facility is up to 35% loan to property value, provided on a portfolio basis.
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.
