Aviva Investors has acquired three logistics warehouses from Next through its Lime Property Fund for £107 million, in a sale and leaseback transaction.
The three distribution units are located in South Elmsall, between Wakefield and Doncaster, and together total more than 110,000 sq m of floor space, forming a key part of Next’s national online storage and distribution capability.
“We are pleased to have acquired these assets and to have agreed on a sale-and-leaseback arrangement with Next, allowing access to a robust portfolio of warehouses, with a high-quality tenant. We believe that the logistics sector will continue to be resilient in the longer-term, as retail firms enhance their distribution capabilities. Our expectation is that these types of assets will therefore be strong contributors to performance in our portfolio,” said Renos Booth, Head of Real Estate Long Income at Aviva Investors.
Launched in 2004, the Lime Property Fund is a long income real estate fund with a net asset value of GBP2.7 billion, as at 31 December 2019.