15th May 2007 07:01
Wichford plc15 May 2007 First acquisition in Continental Europe €57m purchase of Justice Centre in Halle, Germany Wichford plc, the property investment company, is pleased to announce its firstacquisition in Continental Europe. The company has signed an agreement topurchase up to 94.9% of a partnership that owns the freehold interest in theJustizzentrum in the town of Halle, near Leipzig, Germany. The Justizzentrum was purpose-built to a very high specification in 1996/1997and totals 32,800 sq. m (353,100 sq ft) of offices, law courts and archiving. The entire property is let to the state government of Sachsen-Anhalt, and isused as a court house and as offices for the district attorney. The leaseexpires on 30th June 2020 with the tenant having two 5 year options to extend.The current passing rental is €3,264,000 per annum and is indexed to 100% of theincrease in the German CPI after a 10 basis point hurdle. The total consideration was €57,000,000 including all ancillary costs, equatingto a 5.7% yield. Michael Sheehan, the Chairman of Wichford Plc commented: "This is an exciting step forward for the company as it is our first acquisitionin Continental Europe. We expect that this will be followed by furtheracquisitions both on the continent and the UK over the next few months. I amdelighted that the proceeds of our successful placing in February are beingemployed at yields that are earnings accretive" Enquiries Wichford Philip Cooper Tel: 020 7495 7111 Richard Britten-Long Tel: 020 7333 0044 Citigate Dewe Rogerson Tel: 020 7638 9571 George Cazenove Hannah Seward Notes to Editors Wichford PLC (AIM:WICH) is a property investment company, with a portfoliofocused on UK investment property outside Central London occupied exclusively byUK Central Government bodies. Following today's announcement the company nowalso has similar assets in Continental Europe. The Company currently has 70 properties under management (including today'sacquisition) with a gross asset value of circa £539 million generating a rentalincome of circa £32.0 million per annum. The company's portfolio of propertieshas unit values usually between £2 million and £25 million. The Company'scurrent core portfolio has a weighted average unexpired lease term of circa 11years. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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