19th Jan 2006 14:55
Wichford plc19 January 2006 19 January 2006 Wichford PLC Acquires Lyon House for £17.5 million Wichford plc ("Wichford" or the "Company"), the property investment company,today announces the acquisition of Lyon House, Harrow from Tiger DevelopmentsLimited ("Tiger") for a cash consideration of £17,500,000. The transaction wascarried out via the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of TigerHarrow Ltd by Wichford plc. Lyon House was let in its entirety to the Secretary of Stare for the Environmentfor 25 years from 24 June 1985, and therefore has four years unexpired on thelease. The current passing rent is £1,210,400 per annum. Based on the purchase price plus costs the initial yield to Wichford plc is6.75%. In addition, Wichford have agreed to pay a top-up payment to Tiger shouldresidential planning permission be obtained within six years of the acquisition. Michael Sheehan, chairman of Wichford plc, commented; "This is an excitingacquisition for the company and with only four years of the lease to run goessome way to restocking the Active Portfolio following the lease improvementsannounced earlier this month. This deal takes the Active Portfolio back up to20.71% of the whole. Enquiries Citigate Dewe Rogerson Tel: 020 7638 9571Patrick Toyne-SewellGeorge Cazenove Notes to Editors Wichford plc is a property investment company, with a portfolio focused on UKinvestment property outside Central London occupied exclusively by UK CentralGovernment bodies, which listed on AIM in August 2004. The company has 56properties under management with a gross asset value of £ £360,232,500generating a rental income of over £22,982,401 per annum. The companymaintains a portfolio of properties across the UK with unit values usuallybetween £3 million and £15 million. The properties are occupied by UK CentralGovernment bodies and all are outside Central London. Wichford is seeking tobenefit from the Government's commitment to act upon the recommendations of theLyons Review (March 2004) that about 20,000 public sector jobs should berelocated outside London and the South-East of England over the next sevenyears. The Company's current portfolio has a weighted average unexpired leaseterm of 9.63 years. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
RDI.L