Investors pay £37m for two sites in Yorkshire

A distribution building occupied by logistics and supply-chain management business Exel UK, in Normanton, was bought for £19.5m, while Gildersome Spur industrial estate, near Leeds, was bought for £17.5m.

The 382,569 sq ft Excel building in Normanton, which overlooks junction 31 of the M62, was sold by Prudential Assurance Company to HSBC European Active Real Estate Fund Trust. The lease, for which the current annual rent is £1.789m a year, runs until December 2017 with the next review in December 2012.

It occupies a 25.5-acre site close to units occupied by Warburtons, Argos, Hagens, TK Maxx and Wickes. There is also a 210-space car park and an adjoining service yard with a separate gatehouse, and lorry and trailer parking. There is scope to expand on the surrounding grassed area.

Andrew Summersgill, head of King Sturge’s Leeds-based investment team, who brokered the deal, said: “This attracted interest from several institutional purchasers and reflects the relative dearth of good-quality investment stock available at the current time.

“This is a high-profile, strategic distribution location and, with 12 years unexpired on the lease term, is a robust acquisition at a yield of 8.65 per cent.”

The 24-acre Gildersome Spur site, a freehold multi-let industrial estate situated opposite junction 27 of the M62, was sold by Standard Life Investments to Invista Real Estate who were represented by Steadman Brierley.

The property, which has been owned by Standard Life for 40 years, is approximately 450,000 sq ft with 20 tenants in total, generating an annual rental income of £1.44m. The estate is 90 per cent let with tenants including Caterpillar Logistics, Opera North, DHL, Next, Home Delivery Network and Cummins Engineering.

Mike Curtis, of Mike Curtis & Co, property investment advisers, who acted on behalf of Standard Life, said: “At a time when much of the interest and the talk of recovery might be perceived as ‘London-centric’, this sale illustrates the strength of demand for ‘institutional grade’ investment product in major provincial centres such as Leeds.”