UK property investment company increases invested funds with Leeds acquisition

Custodian REIT, a UK property investment company, has just made a valuable increase to its burgeoning portfolio.

Today the company, which launched on 26 March 2014 with £95 million of UK commercial property portfolio, has announced the purchases of two industrial units in Leeds that occupy 41,077 sq ft, and are easily accessible to the M1 and M621.

The two purchased properties increases Custodian REIT’s total funds invested since its flotation in March last year to £96.6 million.

The Yorkshire-based units are currently let to Nationwide Crash Repair Centres Limited and Sovereign Air Movement Limited, which are on leases that expire on 24 December 2020 and 15 April 2021.

The total passing rent is £187,500 per annum, reflecting a net initial yield of 7.51%.

The price of purchase was agreed at £2.36m with funds coming from the company’s cash resources, with net borrowings following the acquisition of 7.1% loan to value.

Addressing the acquisition, Richard Shepherd-Cross, managing director of Custodian Capital Limited (the company’s external fund manager), said:

“In this increasingly competitive market, we are very pleased to have made another strong addition to the industrial sector of the portfolio. The property is centrally located adjacent to the Leeds ring road. There is a severe shortage of quality industrial units in the city which will result in minimal re-letting voids and future rental growth.”