New York-based retail property investment trust W.P Carey has acquired two Morrisons stores and petrol stations in a £51 million deal.
W.P Carey has acquired the two stores - which are in Loughborough and Ilkeston - from an existing landlord. They will be leased to Morrisons on a long-term triple-net basis, meaning the supermarket will continue to pay running costs. Rent increases are built into the deal.
It follows WP Carey’s acquisition of two other Morrisons stores, in Manchester and Doncaster in 2024.
“We are pleased to build on our relationship with Morrisons, acquiring another set of high-quality grocery assets,” said Christopher Mertlitz, WP Carey head of European investments.
“This investment aligns with our core strategy of acquiring essential, well-located real estate backed by market-leading tenants and it underlines our confidence in the strength and growth potential of the UK grocery sector.”
Confirming the acquisition, a Morrisons’ spokesman said: “This was a secondary market transaction and the stores were not acquired directly from Morrisons”.
Separately, the supermarket’s private equity owner Clayton Dubilier & Rice has been pursuing a number of sale and leaseback deals as a means of generating cash to fund Morrisons’ turnaround plan under Rami Baitiéh, as well as reduce its massive debt pile.
It included a £331m deal to sell 76 of its stores to US real estate investor Song Capital in 2024. The supermarket also sold its 337 petrol fuel courts to Motor Fuel Group in February 2024, in a £2.5bn deal.
The windfall was the major driver of Morrisons’ return to profit last year, accounts published at Companies House revealed last week, with a £2.1bn jump in profits, reversing its £919m pre-tax loss the previous year.
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