AEW UK REIT acquires high yielding retail property

RNS Number : 4250V

AEW UK REIT PLC

02 November 2017

 

AEW UK REIT plc acquires Commercial Road retail properties in Portsmouth for £6.4m

AEW UK REIT plc ("the Company"), which directly owns a diversified portfolio of regional UK commercial property assets, is pleased to announce the acquisition of 208-220 Commercial Road and 7-13 Crasswell Street, Portsmouth for £6.4m.

The asset provides a net initial yield of 9.6% and is fully let to seven retail tenants and one office tenant providing a WAULT of 4 years to expiry. The 15,553 sq ft retail property is situated within the prime pedestrianised pitch of Commercial Road within Portsmouth's city centre. The property is also directly opposite the main covered shopping centre, The Cascades, which is anchored by Primark, H&M, Next and Marks and Spencer.

As part of the 'Shaping Portsmouth' development initiative, the city is set to receive £1 billion of investment from both public and private sector organisations over the next 20 years.

Alex Short, Portfolio Manager, AEW UK REIT, commented: "We are pleased to have completed this latest acquisition which we expect to prove accretive to the Company's yield both on an initial and equivalent basis. When acquiring High Street retail assets we appraise a conservative scenario and therefore we were attracted by both the central location of these units and also the asset management and lease renewal opportunities that the asset provides. The addition of this property complements our existing portfolio and we are pleased to be investing again following the completion of our successful capital raise in October."

On 20 October AEW UK REIT announced that it had raised £28.1m through the initial issue of the Share Issuance Programme, as described in the prospectus published by the Company on 28 September 2017.

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About AEW UK REIT

AEW UK REIT plc (LSE: AEWU) aims to deliver an attractive total return to shareholders by investing predominantly in smaller commercial properties (typically less than £10 million), on shorter occupational leases in strong commercial locations across the United Kingdom. The Company was listed on the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and admitted to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange on 12 May 2015, raising £100.5m. Since IPO it has raised a further £51m.

The Company is currently invested in office, retail, industrial and leisure assets, with a focus on active asset management, repositioning the properties and improving the quality of the income stream.

AEWU is currently paying an annualised dividend of 8p per share.

www.aewukreit.com 

About AEW UK Investment Management LLP

AEW UK Investment Management LLP is a 50:50 joint venture between the Management Team and AEW. It employs a well-resourced team comprising 25 individuals covering investment, asset management, operations and strategy. It is part of AEW Group, one of the world's largest real estate managers, with €58.5 billion of assets under management as at 30 June 2017. AEW Group comprises AEW SA and AEW Capital Management L.P., a U.S. registered investment manager and their respective subsidiaries. In Europe, as at 30 June 2017, AEW Group managed €26.0 billion in value in properties of all types located in 15 countries, with over 380 staff.

Enquiries:

AEW UK

Alex Short	[e-mail] [phone]
Laura Elkin	[e-mail] [phone]
Nicki Gladstone	[e-mail] [phone]
Company Secretary Capita Company Secretarial Services Limited	[e-mail]  [phone]
Media Enquiries Temple Bar Advisory (Financial PR advisor) Ed Orlebar Tom Allison Lucy Featherstone	[e-mail]   [phone] [phone] [phone]

About AEW

AEW is one of the world's largest real estate asset managers, with €58.5bn of assets under management as at 30 June 2017. AEW has over 600 employees, with its main offices located in Boston, London, Paris and Hong Kong and offers a wide range of real estate investment products including comingled funds, separate accounts and securities mandates across the full spectrum of investment strategies. AEW represents the real estate asset management platform of Natixis Global Asset Management, one of the largest asset managers in the world.

As at 30 June 2017, AEW managed €26.0bn of real estate assets in Europe on behalf of a number of funds and separate accounts. AEW has over 380 employees based in 10 offices across Europe and has a long track record of successfully implementing core, value-add and opportunistic investment strategies on behalf of its clients. In the last five years, AEW has invested and divested a total volume of over €17.5bn of real estate across European markets.

 

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