ICG Real Estate has completed the acquisition of freehold digital infrastructure assets in Central London, which are let to Vodafone UK, for £125m.
Upon completion of the acquisition, ICG’s Strategic Real Estate team (ICG SRE) and Vodafone have renegotiated the existing leases, extending them to 2048 and including RPI linked increases, thus immediately enhancing the portfolio’s value.
The 260,000 sq ft portfolio comprises five data exchanges, predominantly located within Zone 1, the heart of Central London. The exchanges provide connectivity for Vodafone’s customers.
Fuelled by the rapidly increasing demand for data, broader digitalisation trends and new emerging technologies, digital infrastructure is a core ICG Real Estate investment focus.
ICG SRE is a pan-European strategy which specialises in working in partnership with corporates to acquire their mission-critical assets. Typically, ICG SRE accesses its investments by way of long-term, index linked and primarily sale and leaseback acquisitions, which also provide corporates with an alternate form of finance.
Chris Nichols, Head of Strategic Real Estate commented: ”Working in partnership with Vodafone, we engineered a solution which secured its long term infrastructure, whilst generating an immediate value uplift for our investors. This is a clear demonstration of our ability to provide both certainty of execution and a solution for corporate occupiers. We look forward to working with Vodafone to asset manage and enhance the existing portfolio, whilst seeking to unlock additional mutually beneficial opportunities.”
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