Schroder UK Real Estate Fund (‘SREF’) has completed the sale of Quadrant Park, a prominent industrial estate in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, to Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Ltd the largest mutual life, pensions and investment company in the UK (‘Royal London’) for £16.8 million, equating to a 4.95% net initial yield.
The estate, which was built in 2006, comprises 116,000 sq ft of high quality warehouse space, situated within close proximity to Welwyn Garden City station and transport connections to Central London.
SREF acquired Quadrant Park in 2010 with a strategy to reduce the vacancy rate from 50% and increase rents against the backdrop of an expected improvement in the occupational market. This strategy has been successfully executed and the property is now fully let at an average rent of £7.50 per square foot. Since inception the asset has provided a total return of 15.32% per annum.
Commenting on the sale, James Lass, Fund Manager at SREF, said:
“The total return from the asset has significantly outperformed the IPD Industrial South East index. The timing of the sale is in line with our strategy to crystallise strong performance and reinvest proceeds to generate higher returns”.
Knight Frank acted for SREF and JLL acted for Royal London Mutual Insurance Society.
