LondonMetric sells four East Midlands units for £41m

Real estate group LondonMetric Property is to sell four multi-let industrial estates in the East Midlands for £40.5m, as it continues to sell off assets acquired in its takeover of A&J Mucklow in 2019.

The portfolio, which consists of 435,000 square feet across 47 units in Birmingham and Rugby, were valued at £30.9m at the time of the Mucklow acquisition, and the sale represents an ungeared internal rate of return of 13%.

The assets, which generate £2.7m each year in rental income, are being solid to private property developer Hines. The sale price represents a net initial yield of 6.2%.

LondonMetric has now disposed of 35% of the original Mucklow portfoliio, generating £194m and a 26% uplift against allocated cost, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

"These assets have delivered returns materially above our initial expectations from a combination of rental growth and yield compression. The sale is expected to be EPS accretive and represents our exit from highly operational multi-let industrial estates," said LondonMetric's chief executive Andrew Jones.