LaSalle has acquired a Sainsbury’s food store at Braidwater Retail Park, Ballymena for GBP17.85m on behalf of the Northern Ireland Local Government Officers Superannuation Committee (NILGOSC).
This follows LaSalle’s acquisition of two other superstores in Northern Ireland for NILGOSC last year.
Following this acquisition, the total LaSalle has invested in Northern Irish supermarkets over the last year rises to GBP66.45m and LaSalle’s investment at Braidwater Retail Park to over GBP30m.
The 60,777 square feet store at Braidwater Retail Park, Ballymena is let to Sainsbury’s on a long term 25 year lease. The vendor is Corbo Properties, Northern Ireland’s largest property company.
Chris Fry, director at LaSalle Investment Management, says: “We are interested in well located prime assets with long, unexpired leases. This latest purchase follows on from last year’s acquisition of a 85,119 square feet Tesco store and petrol station on Bentrim Road, Lisburn and a 70,973 square feet Sainsbury’s store on Strand Road, Londonderry. We continue to seek prime property investments with long, index linked leases across the UK.”
Stephen Kirkpatrick, chief executive of Corbo Properties, says: “Having originally developed this scheme in the mid-1990s we have consistently sought to add value to the property through our proactive asset management approach. The sale to LaSalle at a net initial yield of 5.16 per cent demonstrates clearly that, notwithstanding the current economic challenges, there continues to be strong institutional demand for prime assets in Northern Ireland.”
Osborne King and CBRE jointly advised Corbo Properties, the vendor, while LaSalle was advised by Wilkinson Williams.