Legal & General Property passes £100 million milestone

Legal & General Property, announces that it has completed over £110 million of acquisitions as part of its major investment drive to take advantage of the market volatility and capture the rare opportunities that are now unfolding.

On behalf of clients across a number of its funds, the fund management platform that forms part of Legal & General Investment Management, has used its in-house expertise to capitalise on market conditions and selectively seize attractively priced high quality assets that are characterised by offering opportunities for significant value uplift.

Led by the Company's new Head of Transactions, Gordon Aitchison, who joined LGP from Citygrove in July this year, it has quickly targeted a wide range of assets across all sectors. So far it has completed the purchase of over nine assets within the office, retail and industrial sectors, including:

A freehold Southampton office building - let to Skandia Life at a rent of over £2 million per annum and purchased for circa. £21.3 million representing a net initial yield of 9.1%.

Tesco superstore in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, with a total purchase price of £13.2 million reflecting a net initial yield of 6.75%.

A 76,800 sq ft office building at Templepoint, Bristol let entirely to Orange, with eight years unexpired for £16.1 million representing a yield of 8.9%.

Royal buildings in Market Street, Manchester, in mixed office and retail block for £9.6 million representing a net initial yield of 8.9%;

The 95,000 sq ft House of Fraser department store on English Street, Carlisle, for £10.5 million, reflecting a net initial yield of 9.0%;

Two retail units let to Waterstones and Game store on Princes Street, Edinburgh for £10.05 million representing a net initial yield of 7.65%.

The Company accumulated its equity from undertaking selective asset disposals early in the market cycle, enabling it not only to protect its position against potential redemptions by holding a liquidity position, but also to keep its open-ended funds free from trading restrictions. Coupled with this it has also recently secured significant inflows across its funds to invest back into the market.

Gordon Aitchison, LGP's newly appointed Head of Transactions, commented: "These purchases demonstrate LGP's ability to identify and act upon acquisition opportunities that offer the potential for significant value uplift. Proactive asset and tenant management strategies, lease re-gears, renewals and redevelopment are second nature at Legal & General Property. At the same time, the assets acquired in this tranche of transactions offer a good combination of income and covenant strength, which is proving increasingly attractive to our investor client base.

"With substantial firepower of over £600 million of cash to invest on behalf of our clients, we continue to actively source a wide variety of interesting prospects. We are using a range of imaginative different approaches to sourcing deals, and the power and reach of Legal & General is really helping deals range from simple acquisitions to joint ventures, banking mandates and corporate sale and leasebacks."

Bill Hughes, Managing Director of Legal & General Property, comments: "We have said for some time that for investors with cash ready to be deployed, there will be some outstanding opportunities to acquire strong assets at good prices, whilst taking advantage of long unexpired lease terms to high quality covenants.

"These acquisitions are a clear reflection on the network of contacts we possess within the business and the agility of our teams to capitalise on opportunities as they arise."