Property investor raises £15m with sale of industrial units

Property investor Custodian has raised £15m with the sale of two industrial units.

A vacant unit in Warrington achieved £9.0m, which was a 61% premium on its end of year valuation, although planning permission had recently been secured to redevelop the site.

An industrial unit in Weybridge acquired in 2019 in a sale-and-leaseback portfolio deal with Menzies Distribution has been sold for £6.0m.

Leicester-headquartered Custodian specialises in smaller regional properties across the UK.

Richard Shepherd-Cross, managing director of Custodian Capital, which is the company’s external fund manager, said: “Whilst planning consent has been received to redevelop the Warrington site we believe that, due to a lack of occupier demand and the ability to crystallise a substantial profit for our shareholders, now is the best time to sell.

“Selling vacant property is particularly accretive to earnings by both saving void costs and reducing interest expense.

“The Weybridge asset has provided a healthy level of income over its four years of ownership and having re-let the unit in 2022 at an increased level of rent, we believe future rental growth may not meet our income growth expectations going forwards so we have made the decision to sell.”

The proceeds from the sales will reduce Custodian’s loan-to-value on its debt facility by around 2%.