3 September 2021

 

 

Custodian REIT plc

 

("Custodian REIT" or the "Company")

 

Purchase of Property

 

Custodian REIT (LSE: CREI), the UK property investment company, is pleased to announce a further property purchase.

 

The Company has acquired a 20,012 sq ft office building on Fountain Street, Manchester which is a short walk from Piccadilly Gardens and Oxford Road station.  Other local occupiers include Savills, Sixteen Real Estate, Chartered Wealth Management and Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance.

 

The property comprises basement parking and six floors let to Leyton UK, Meridian Healthcomms, Venditan and Fourthline with a weighted average unexpired lease term to first break or expiry ("WAULT") of 1.2 years and an aggregate rent of £406,704 per annum, reflecting a net initial yield[1] of 6.10%.

 

The agreed purchase price of £6.25 million was funded from the Company's existing debt facilities, resulting in net gearing[2] increasing to 25.2% loan to value.

 

Commenting on the acquisition, Richard Shepherd-Cross, Managing Director of Custodian Capital Limited (the Company's discretionary investment manager), said:

 

"We are delighted to have secured this high quality office building in a proven central Manchester location, which continues the pre-emptive deployment of proceeds from the sale of a portfolio of industrial properties due to complete later this month.  The short WAULT provides potential asset management opportunities to enhance value and increase passing rent."

 

1 Aggregate rent, which includes rental guarantees, divided by valuation plus estimated purchaser's costs.

2 Gross borrowings less cash (excluding tenant rental deposits and retentions) divided by last published property portfolio value.

 

-Ends-

 

 

For further information, please contact:

 

Custodian Capital Limited
Richard Shepherd-Cross / Ed Moore / Ian Mattioli MBE		Tel: +44 (0)116 240 8740
		www.custodiancapital.com
Numis Securities Limited
Hugh Jonathan/Nathan Brown	Tel: +44 (0)20 7260 1000
	www.numiscorp.com
Camarco
Ed Gascoigne-Pees	Tel: +44 (0)20 3757 4984
	www.camarco.co.uk

 

Notes to Editors

 

Custodian REIT plc is a UK real estate investment trust, which listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange on 26 March 2014.  Its portfolio comprises properties predominantly let to institutional grade tenants on long leases throughout the UK and is principally characterised by small lot sizes, with individual property values of less than £10 million at acquisition. 

 

The Company offers investors the opportunity to access a diversified portfolio of UK commercial real estate through a closed-ended fund.  By targeting smaller lot size properties, the Company intends to provide investors with an attractive level of income with the potential for capital growth. 

 

Custodian Capital Limited is the discretionary investment manager of the Company. 

 

For more information visit www.custodianreit.com and www.custodiancapital.com.