Skip to content
The DI Wire
Click Here to Subscribe to Our Free Daily News Updates

REIT Sponsor Purchases New Construction in the UK

W.P. Carey Inc. has acquired a newly constructed, Class A office building in Newport, Wales for the sum of approximately $32 million.

The global net-lease REIT that specializes in acquiring single tenant net-lease properties purchased the 80,664 square-foot facility from UK real estate investor, Scarborough Group International.

With construction completed in May 2014, the property is leased to Admiral Group (Admiral) in a 20-year triple net-lease and accommodates over 500 Admiral employees. As a result of the company’s strong presence in the area, the facility has been chosen as its long term operating site.

“We are pleased to complete this transaction with W. P. Carey. Their capital resources, experience in the European net-lease investment market and their strategy of acquiring long-term net-leased assets made them an ideal purchaser for this asset,” commented Mark Jackson, director of Scarborough Group International.

Located in the center of Newport, the building is situated in a rapidly growing part of the city. With the addition of the new office space along with ongoing redevelopments in the surrounding area, Newport has already attracted $370 million of private investment.

Executive director of W.P. Carey, Jennifer Lucas, stated, “The transaction with Scarborough Group is consistent with our investment strategy of acquiring critical assets leased on a long-term basis to strong credit tenants and demonstrates our ability to provide liquidity to developers and owners of attractive net-leased assets.” She added, “Admiral is a well-capitalized business with a long-term commitment to the facility and we are delighted to add the company to our tenant portfolio. Given the UK’s status as the second largest European economy with good growth forecasts, we are pleased to add another UK asset to our holdings.”

Since its founding in 1973, W.P. Carey has managed a series of REITs with approximately $8.2 billion in assets. Currently, it sponsors and manages a number of non-traded REITs.