Stenprop offloading Swiss property in pivot to UK industrial

Stenprop told shareholders on Thursday that it had completed the disposal of two of its Swiss properties, Altendorf and Arlesheim, via the sale of the entire issued share capital of Polo Property to Helvetica Swiss Commercial earlier in the week.

The specialist fund also said three more of its subsidiaries entered into agreements for the disposal of five additional Swiss properties, being Baar, Vevey, Montreux, Chiasso and Sissach, as asset sales to the purchaser.

It said the aggregate consideration for the disposals was CHF 76.35m (£58.73m), to be settled in cash.

The combined transactions valued the seven properties at CHF103.65m, compared with the valuation at 31 March of CHF103.23m,

“Stenprop has previously announced its intention to become a specialised UK multi-let industrial REIT and, over the next few years, to sell substantially all of its non-MLI assets and utilise the sale proceeds to build a focused UK MLI business,” the Stenprop board said of its justification for the sales.

“It has also previously announced its intention to dispose of its Swiss portfolio in line with this strategy.”

The board said the sale and purchase agreement for the disposal of Polo Property was signed and simultaneously closed on 17 July.

It explained that the asset disposals of Baar, Vevey, Montreux, Chiasso and Sissach remained subject to individual and separate sale and purchase agreements.

The Vevey and Montreux agreements closed on 18 July, with the Baar and Sissach agreements going unconditional on 18 July, and were expected to close on 19 July or shortly thereafter.

Stenprop said the Chiasso agreement remained subject to the release of security by the lender, and was expected to become unconditional and close “shortly”.

“Failure to close before 30 September will result in termination of the Chiasso sale and purchase agreement,” the board sadi.

The total consideration for Baar, Vevey, Montreux, and Sissach was CHF 57.55m, and the consideration for Chiasso was CHF 9.40m.

Stenprop said the total consideration for the shares in Polo Property was CHF 9.40m, which would be subject to a potential post-completion adjustment based on Polo Property's audited financial statements at 30 June.

“Stenprop has provided a surety undertaking for the obligations of its subsidiaries under the Polo SPA and the SPAs, limited to a total value of CHF 6m,” the board said.

“Normal warranties and indemnities for transactions of this nature have been provided by the relevant subsidiaries of Stenprop.”