Industrial portfolio in north of England acquired in £42m deal

Columbia Threadneedle, the global asset management group, has acquired the Network North portfolio from investment and development company Network Space for £41.9m.

The 630,000 sq ft Network North is a Grade A multi-let industrial portfolio in the north of England with 60 tenants in 17 locations in Yorkshire and Lancashire.

The annual rent roll is £2.85m, reflecting a net initial yield of 6.37%.

The portfolio is 92% let. Most of the assets have been built by the vendor since 2000 and managed in-house by its specialist teams.

The Yorkshire locations in the portfolio included Barnsley, Rotherham, Hull, Sherburn-in-Elmet and Castleford.

Columbia Threadneedle was represented in the acquisition by Garry Howes of Gent Visick and Simon Wood of B8 Real Estate, whilst the Leeds office of property consultancy Knight Frank represented Network Space.

Graham Foxton, partner in capital markets at Knight Frank in Leeds, who handled the disposal, commented: “The deal is a significant one for the region and shows the strength of the industrial sector in this part of the country.

“The portfolio is a rare commodity given that it comprises 100% industrial buildings of excellent quality. Multi-let industrial is an attractive sector in the country and this proves that the North can - and does - compete with the South”.

Richard Ainscough, managing director at Network Space, added: “We took the decision to sell these assets so that we can accelerate the speculative development of our new industrial property.

“We will also continue to invest in our asset management platform so that we can continue to get the best out of our retained investments and those of our investor partners. We have an excellent team at Network Space, specialists with a true wealth of experience in the development, investment and management of industrial property.”

Stephen Woodall of FDR Law acted for Network Space and Addleshaw Goddard acted for Columbia Threadneedle.

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