Ribston makes first purchases after restructuring fund
17/07/2020
17 July 2020 | by Guy Montague-Jones
Industrial specialist Ribston has made its first acquisitions on behalf of the Ribston Property Unit Trust since converting the fund to an open-end structure, React News can reveal.
Ribston, which was founded in 2015 by former Ashtenne colleagues James Havery, Mark Ovens and Joe Havery (pictured), has made two acquisitions in city centre locations at a cost of £12.5m with a combined yield of 5.1%.
In one deal, the fund manager acquired two units totalling 90,464 sq ft at Gelderd Road, Leeds, from a client of LaSalle Investment Management. The tenant, Clipper Logistics, operates a contract for supermarket chain Morrisons from the buildings.
In the other, the firm acquired 23,362 sq ft in a terrace of seven units at 244-256 Causewayside, Edinburgh, from a private investor. All the units are let.
Ribston director James Havery said the deals followed a restructuring of the RPUT fund in December last year from a closed-ended to an open-end structure. At the same time, unitholders committed further equity to the fund.
“This demonstration of support puts the fund in a great position to consider new opportunities now and into the future,” he said.
Fellow director Joe Havery said the two latest deals demonstrated the firm’s confidence in city centre industrial property.
He added: “Both properties have extremely strong fundamentals, being both very defensive as well as being prime candidates for relative outperformance in better times. These dual characteristics have been at the core of RPUT’s acquisition programme since its launch in December 2016.”
Reith Lambert (Edinburgh) and JLL (Leeds) acted for RPUT on the acquisitions. The private seller of Causewayside was represented by Ryden, and Stonehill Partners acted on behalf of LaSalle Investment Management.
Article (subscription required).