AEW UK REIT plc sells Nottingham office block for £3.65m
AEW UK REIT plc ("the Company"), which directly owns a diversified portfolio of regional UK commercial property assets, is pleased to announce the sale of the office accommodation at Pearl Assurance House, Nottingham for £3.65m.
The sale comprises the first to the ninth floors, a ground floor reception and car parking spaces, providing a total area of 41,262 sq ft, and reflecting a net initial yield (NIY) of 6.9%.
Pearl Assurance House was purchased by the Company in May 2016 for £8.15m. The Company will retain the ground floor accommodation in this busy city centre location, totalling 28,432 sq ft, let to national retail operators including Costa Coffee, Poundland and Lakeland. The retained element will provide the Company with an ongoing yield of 9.5% based on its component value of £5.26m.
Alex Short, Portfolio Manager, AEW UK REIT, commented: "Having completed numerous asset management initiatives within this property, including the completion of lease renewals across three floors and gaining consent for residential development across the upper floors, we believe that this is the right time to sell the office component of the asset having maximised its value in the short term. We are pleased to retain the ground floor, which provides an attractive yield for the Company in a major city centre location."
ENDS
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.
About AEW UK Investment Management LLP
The Investment Manager AEW UK Investment Management LLP is a 50:50 joint venture between the principals of the Investment Manager 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 31 December 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 31 December 2017, AEW Group managed €28.4 billion in value in properties of all types located in 15 countries, with close to 600 staff.
Enquiries:
AEW UK
Alex Short |
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Laura Elkin |
+44(0) 207 016 4880
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Nicki Gladstone |
+44(0) 207 016 4869
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+44(0) 771 140 1021
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Company Secretary |
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Link Company Matters Limited |
+44(0) 207 954 9547
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Media Enquiries TB Cardew (Financial PR advisor) Ed Orlebar Tom Allison Lucy Featherstone |
+44(0) 7738 724 630 +44(0) 7789 998 020 +44(0) 7789 374 663 |
About AEW Europe
AEW is one of the world's largest real estate asset managers, with €58.5bn of assets under management as at 31 December 2017. AEW has close to 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 Investment Managers, one of the largest asset managers in the world.
As at 31 December 2017, AEW managed €28.4bn of real estate assets in Europe on behalf of a number of funds and separate accounts. AEW has close to 400 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.