Legal & General’s (LGIM Real Assets) Managed Fund has expanded its portfolio to £3.8 billion with the acquisition of five prime assets across offices, logistics and leisure sectors for £150 million.
The purchase of 20,821 sq ft of offices at 45 Folgate Street in Spitalfields for £26.8m marks LGIM Real Assets’ return to buying best-in-class buildings in central London with excellent ESG credentials. Following an extensive refurbishment in 2017, the building benefits from an EPC rating of B, renewable energy resources and over 1,200 sq ft of outside amenities. The property is situated in a prime location where the City meets Shoreditch and Spitalfields.
Legal & General’s fund has also completed the purchase of a major mixed-use institutional asset in Brighton City Centre, continuing the trend of investment in sectors anticipated to bounce-back following the COVID-19 pandemic. Situated on Jubilee Street, one of the principal leisure pitches in Brighton and most popular leisure destinations outside of London, the 49,154 sq ft mixed-use asset has retail units with well-configured, modern frontages and high-quality office spaces.
Within this recent flurry of investment, the Managed Fund has also completed the significant acquisition of the Porto Portfolio, comprising six freehold multi-let industrial estates across the East, South East and South West of England. The Porto Portfolio represents a total of 403,087 sq ft of industrial space, housing a mix of 23 local and national long-term occupiers across 32 units. This deal closely followed the purchase of 2 Eastways – an industrial unit in Witham, where the fund owns the adjoining industrial estate, for £9.25m – plus two units at Meadowhall Retail Park in Sheffield for £3.6m, giving the fund total control of the park.
Rob Codling, Senior Fund Manager at LGIM: “Acquisitions of prime assets across offices, logistics and leisure sectors falls in line with the Managed Fund’s strategy of increasing weightings in these markets. 45 Folgate Street, Jubilee Street, and the Porto Portfolio are exemplary demonstrations of the high-quality investments LGIM Real Assets are pursuing, while the purchases in Witham and Sheffield bring marriage value to the fund through increasing adjoining ownership.”
