Property overview

Atlas Real Estate has advised Legal & General Property in the acquisition of the Pendragon portfolio consisting of nine car showroom investments for £40m.

The portfolio, which has been bought on behalf of the UK Property Unit Trust in a deal representing a net initial yield of 6.33%, was put up for sale by Hermes Real Estate Investment Management.

The showrooms are let to car dealer group Pendragon and have an average unexpired lease term of more than 15.5 years. Pendragon’s two main brands are Stratstone, which focuses on luxury cars and motorcycles, including Ferrari, Honda, Land Rover, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz and MINI, and Evans Halshaw, which is the largest volume car retailer in the UK, and includes brands such as Vauxhall, Ford, Nissan and Renault.

The portfolio includes locations such as Bedford, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Leeds.

Matt Jarvis, fund manager of the Property Unit Trust fund at Legal & General Property, said: “With assets situated in key geographic territories and benefiting from good levels of prominence, the purchase of this portfolio is closely in line with the fund’s strategy to acquire well located, high quality assets which offer secure income returns over the medium term. The showrooms are dedicated to serving strong and profitable manufacturer brands, such as Land Rover and Mercedes Benz, and therefore, in our opinion, offer enduring appeal, as well as offering the fund diversification into a new sub-sector.”

Atlas Real Estate and GVA advised Legal & General, and Tudor Toone and Automotive Property Consulting represented Hermes.