Acquisition of Retail Park in Leicester

RNS Number : 2211B

UK Commercial Property Trust Ltd

15 February 2011

 



15 February 2011

UK Commercial Property Trust Limited

(the "Company" or "UKCPT")

UK Commercial Property Trust acquires Leicester Retail Park

UK Commercial Property Trust, the UK's largest property investment trust, managed by Ignis Real Estate, is pleased to announce the purchase of St. George's Retail Park, Leicester, from a fund managed by JP Morgan Asset Management for £49.9m.

St. George's Retail Park is an Open A1 retail park (with food) prominently located within Leicester city centre. Extending to 165,419 sq ft and 522 car spaces, the tenants include Wickes, PC World, Currys, Comet, Aldi, Pets at Home, Next, Brantano, Toys r Us, Mothercare and KFC.

The current gross annual rent receivable in respect of the property is approximately £3.1m (rents range from £16.15 - £26.66 psf).

Christopher Hill, Chairman of UKCPT, commented:

"The St. George's Retail Park is an excellent site with a very high quality tenant profile, providing an attractive yield of over six per cent on our investment. It also offers significant potential to build the rental income through a programme of proactive asset management. The UKCPT team at Ignis Real Estate has a strong track record in the management of retail property throughout the portfolio, and I am confident that our experienced asset management team will create value through this transaction."

Robert Boag, Senior Investment Director at Ignis Real Estate and manager of UKCPT, commented:-

"The purchase of St George's Retail Park represents a significant investment for UKCPT and completes the investment of the £150m equity raised by the Company in February 2010. This latest acquisition increases UKCPT's exposure to retail warehousing, which is a sector we believe will continue to offer strong returns for the Company. Although a lot of good work has been undertaken by the previous owners, we feel there are further asset management opportunities that will improve the profile of the Park and with that the rental and capital growth prospects."

This purchase is typical of UKCPT's strategy of acquiring core income producing investments with potential for asset management that will support and improve the company's dividend.

Enquiries:

Robert Boag/Gary Hutcheson	Ignis Real Estate	Tel: [phone]
Stephanie Highett/Richard Sunderland/Will Henderson/Olivia Goodall	Financial Dynamics	Tel: [phone]

 

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