Macquarie Goodman's £179m property deal

Sep 22 2006

Birmingham Post

Australian group Macquarie Goodman has acquired a portfolio of logistics and office park properties in the UK - including the Midlands - for 431.8 million Australian dollars (£179.4 million) from Kuwait Finance House. The listed Macquarie Bank group member said the portfolio consists of eight prime single fully leased properties, including three office parks accounting for 46 per cent of the deal and five logistics properties representing the remaining 54 per cent. It said the assets were in key strategic locations in the South-east, South-west, the Midlands and the North, but did not name them. Macquarie Goodman added that the portfolio would have an initial yield of 5.6 per cent, inclusive of costs, with an average lease of 9.9 years. It said the acquisition would be funded by debt but was not expected to materially alter market consensus earnings per share in the near term. Macquarie Goodman chief executive Gregory Goodman said the transaction was consistent with a strategy indicated at the time of the establishment of its European funds management platform. "This is a good opportunity to acquire a high quality portfolio of assets in the tightly-held UK property market."