Preston Sainsburys changes hands for £54m

Legal & General has sold the 78,000 sq ft store in the town centre to Supermarket Income REIT for £54.4m in a deal reflecting a net initial yield of 5.1%.

Built in 1992 and refurbished in 2010, the supermarket sits near Preston North End’s Deepdale Stadium and also includes a 12-pump petrol filling station along with 520 parking spaces.

Supermarket Income REIT has acquired the store with an unexpired lease term of 22.5 years with annual upward-only RPI-linked rent reviews.

The REIT has also arranged a five-year £47.6m loan facility with Dekabank, which is secured against the supermarket in Preston and its Tesco supermarket in Mansfield, acquired in April this year.

Ben Green, director of Atrato Capital, the Investment Advisor to Supermarket Income REIT, said: “This Sainsbury’s supermarket is a great addition to our growing portfolio of omnichannel stores. The property has very attractive lease terms, strong fundamentals and provides further diversification to the portfolio.

“We are delighted to have secured Dekabank as a new lender to the Group. Our new facility provides us with very competitively-priced, five-year funding with room to grow to support the company’s future investment requirements.”