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This Week's London Deal Sheet

The Deal Sheet is a weekly compilation of Greater London and beyond's biggest leases, sales, financing deals, construction updates and personnel moves. Have news you’d like to submit? Email mark.faithfull@bisnow.com

Last-mile real estate specialist Valor Real Estate has acquired, on behalf of its joint venture with QuadReal Property Group, a £130M last-mile distribution centre in Purfleet, east London.

The 630K SF cross-dock distribution centre on Dolphin Park is let to retailer Tesco with nine years remaining to lease expiry. It represents the JV’s largest single-asset acquisition to date and the largest of a single-let last-mile asset in the UK since 2022.

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Valor Real Estate and QuadReal have invested £130M in a Tesco-occupied last-mile facility.

The deal takes the amount of capital deployed by the JV across London urban logistics submarkets to £1.1B since the fourth quarter of 2020.

“This transaction represents a rare opportunity to acquire a core urban logistics asset of scale in one of London’s most competitive submarkets in the M25 corridor and close to major ports,” Valor Senior Vice President Jeremy Achkar said in a statement. “It is further evidence of our ability to identify and execute opportunities through the market cycle.”

DEALS

Greykite European Real Estate Fund I and Gatehouse Investment Management, on behalf of their recently launched £750M joint venture, have acquired a second portfolio of purpose-built single-family rental homes from housebuilder Persimmon Homes. 

Located on established housing developments with transport links and local amenities, the six-site portfolio totals more than 200 homes in locations across the Midlands and south-west of England, the company said.

The JV launched in November with the acquisition of an initial 11-site seed portfolio, also from Persimmon Homes. In total, the JV has completed the forward purchase of nearly 650 homes across 17 sites in England. Ascend will also be the property manager for the latest portfolio.

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LondonMetric Property has sold 10 noncore properties for a total of £74.2M, of which its share is £69.4M, reflecting a net initial yield of 6.9%.

The sales comprise a 138K SF retail park in Coventry, sold for £37.3M and let to 13 occupiers including Currys, Aldi, B&M and Dunelm at an average rent of £17.50 per SF, with a weighted average unexpired lease term of six years; an 82K SF Compass training office in Yarnfield, sold for £17.4M; a 35K SF convenience retail park in Totton, sold for £9.5M; two offices in Coventry, sold for £3.3M,which completes the selldown of the 11 offices acquired through the A&J Mucklow acquisition; two Stonegate pubs in Preston and Southampton, sold for £3.3M; a former Dobbies garden centre in Huddersfield, sold for £3.1M; and two land parcels sold for £300K.

Separately, LondonMetric has acquired a mixed property asset portfolio of seven properties for £50.1M.

DEVELOPMENT

Developer and operator of industrial and logistics space Indurent has completed and handed over a 148K SF warehouse facility for manufacturer Rolls-Royce.

The bespoke storage facility, which is located at Indurent Park Derby, will support the company’s manufacturing operation in Derby and increase space in its operational areas.

The unit has been built to a BREEAM Excellent accreditation and an energy performance certificate A+ rating for energy efficiency. The facility is equipped with solar panels installed across the roof space for on-site power generation.  

DEBT

Investec Bank has provided luxury property developer Applegate Homes with an £11.5M facility to fund the development of a super-prime residential property on the Wentworth Estate, Surrey.

Expected to be completed in July 2026, Chanray is an 18,700 SF, seven-bedroom luxury property with an underground car garage, an indoor pool, gym and spa facilities, a cinema, clubroom and bar, a library and staff living space.

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Real estate lender Leumi UK has completed a £13.5M loan to care home developer and operator Cinnamon Care Collection to refinance its new Oakley Grange care home in Warwick.

The transaction represents the fifth site Leumi UK has refinanced in the last 18 months and the seventh site since the relationship was established in 2015. The transaction takes Cinnamon’s total facility with the lender to £56M and brings the total portfolio funded by Leumi UK to 351 registered beds.

Oakley Grange is on the border of Royal Leamington Spa and Warwick and officially opened in August. It offers 66 fully furnished en suite rooms plus five deluxe care suites.

PEOPLE

UK real estate adviser Bidwells has appointed Kate Brennan and Robert Sheldon as partners in its operational living division.

Brennan has more than 22 years of experience in the residential property market, most recently leading the Living Consultancy team at Montagu Evans. Sheldon brings 13 years of experience, most recently as a partner in Residential Investments at Knight Frank. 

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Savills Investment Management has appointed Michael Neal as global chief investment officer for equity investment. The appointment follows the departure of Andrew Allen from Savills IM.

Neal had held senior roles at Nuveen, a Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America company, most recently as CIO of EMEA and head of fund management.

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CBRE has promoted Tim Hamilton to chief growth officer for its UK occupier business.

In the newly created role, Hamilton will develop and implement CBRE’s UK occupier growth strategy, which will target new client business, grow market share and drive revenue, the company said.

He has spent most of his 30-year career with CBRE. However, he also spent five years at Goldman Sachs, leading its corporate real estate transaction strategy and execution across EMEA.