13 May 2019
Sirius Real Estate Limited
("Sirius Real Estate", "Sirius" or the "Company")
Sirius completes acquisition of business park near Hamburg
Sirius Real Estate, the leading operator of branded business parks providing conventional space and flexible workspace in Germany, has completed the acquisition of Buxtehude Business Park south west of Hamburg, in Lower Saxony, for a total consideration of €8.7 million including acquisition costs. The vendor is a well known, international spirits company. The acquisition, notarised in March 2019, has been funded from existing cash resources.
The business park, which provides 28,532 sqm of lettable space (90% warehouse/ production space; 6% offices; and, 4% of other space) on a plot of 35,425 sqm, is being acquired with full vacant possession. Sirius will make use of its operating platform to re-let the site using a multi-tenant strategy with an anchor tenant surrounded by several smaller tenants with multiple different lease lengths.
Buxtehude, located 30 km southwest of Hamburg city centre, is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. It is attached to the city's S-Bahn rapid transit network and has easy access to the Autobahn network. Major companies operating in the town include Airbus, Unilever and Pioneer.
Andrew Coombs, Chief Executive Officer of Sirius Real Estate, said: "Buxtehude is our third acquisition in the Hamburg area and is part of our inititive to sell our three non-core properties in Bremen, which we completed last month and move the resources and capital from Bremen into the Hamburg market where we believe opportunities and returns will be much greater. Buxtehude with the potential to accommodate a flexible multi-tenant structure, in an area where take up is robust and rents are growing is an exciting value-add opportunity for Sirius."
"The acquisition plays to the strengths of our integrated business model and track record of generating tenant demand, maximising space usage and achieving management efficiencies."
"We are already generating interest in this park from prospective tenants and we believe Buxtehude will complement the Company's two existing Hamburg sites."
For further information:
Sirius Real Estate
Andrew Coombs, CEO/Alistair Marks, CFO
Tel: +49 (0)30 285010110
Tavistock (Financial PR)
Jeremy Carey/James Verstringhe
Tel: +44 (0)20 7920 3150
Email: [email protected]
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Sirius Real Estate
Sirius is a property company listed on the main market and premium segment of the London Stock Exchange and the main board of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. It is a leading operator of branded business parks providing conventional space and flexible workspace in Germany. The Company's core strategy is the acquisition of business parks at attractive yields, the integration of these business parks into its network of sites under the Company's own name as well as offering a range of branded products within those sites, and the reconfiguration and upgrade of existing and vacant space to appeal to the local market, through intensive asset management and investment. The Company's strategy aims to deliver attractive returns for shareholders by increasing rental income and improving cost recoveries and capital values, as well as by enhancing those returns through financing its assets on favourable terms. Once sites are mature and net income and values have been optimised, the Company may take the opportunity to refinance the sites to release capital for investment in new sites or consider the disposal of sites in order to recycle equity into assets which present greater opportunity for the asset management skills of the Company's team.
On 1 March 2019, Sirius announced that, in a transaction anticipated to complete in June 2019, it had formed a real estate investment joint venture with clients represented by AXA Investment Managers - Real Assets in which AXA acting on behalf of its clients, will own a 65% interest and Sirius will own the balance of 35%. The JV is called Titanium. The JV will initially be formed by AXA acquiring, on behalf of its clients, from Sirius a 65% stake in five SPVs through which it currently owns two business parks located in Berlin (Berlin Borsig and Berlin Tempelhof) and one in each of Mainz, Nurnberg and Bayreuth. The business parks provide a combination of office, warehouse, industrial and storage space. The implied property value of €168 million equates to a gross yield for the portfolio of 6.2% and reflects a premium to the last reported book value as at 30 September 2018 which was €141.1 million. Total cash commitment from AXA IM - Real Assets amounts to €43.9 million. The transaction is expected to generate total cash proceeds of more than €70 million for Sirius after refinancing and expected related costs.
For more information, please visit: www.sirius-real-estate.com
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