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Grainger continues property blaze with £57.3M London PRS acquisition

Newcastle property firm Grainger plcis continuing its private rented sector (PRS) acquisition trail, today announcing that it has acquired a private rented, residential estate in London for £57.3m.

Working with APG, Europe’s largest pension fund asset manager, the transaction comes via GRIP,the residential property fund owned by the two firms.

The Kew Bridge Court site is made up of 94 flats, 4 houses and 80 car parking spaces in Kew Bridge, London.

This transaction follows on from Grainger’s Strategy Update on 28 January 2016, where the ambition was set out to become the UK’s leading private landlord and the plan to invest over £850m in the UK private rented sector (PRS), including GRIP, over the next 3-5 years.

In addition to the existing assets at Kew Bridge Court, the estate has asset management and development potential, including planning consent for five additional units. AIt is expected to achieve gross rental income of approaching £3m per annum.

GRIP was set up early 2013 and is 25:75 backed by Grainger and APG respectively, with Grainger providing asset and property management services that cover overhead costs and supplement returns.

With a PRS portfolio of c.1,800 units and a gross asset value in excess of £500m, GRIP has a London and South East focus and is looking to invest further in the coming years. This will include stabilised tenanted assets and build to rent development opportunities, such as its investment in Hallsville Quarter in Canning Town, London which consists of 134 units (due for completion in September 2017).

Helen Gordon, CEO of Grainger, said: “Kew Bridge Court is a high quality PRS portfolio in a very attractive and highly sought after area of London.

“This portfolio demonstrates further acceleration of growth in our PRS business and the support we have from our investment partner, APG, to continue to expand GRIP’s portfolio in London and the South East. This was a rare opportunity to acquire a stabilised asset of scale, in one of our prime target markets.”

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