Lytham Aldi bought in £23m deal

The discount food retailer’s outlet in Lytham has been bought by LXi REIT as part of a wider £23m investment.

Lytham St Anne’s Aldi is 25,000 sq ft and was completed by Lancashire-based developer-contractor Worthington Properties in 2013. The £9m scheme on Clifton Drive North included the Aldi store, along with 34 apartments which sit above.

The property has been let to Aldi on a long lease with 19 years remaining. The rental uplifts are fixed at 2.5% per year and the current passing rent equates to £10/sq ft.

Within the same deal, LXi REIT has also forward funded an 85-bedroom Premier Inn in Romford, London, and a 35,000 sq ft servicing and sales centre for Mercedes commercial vans and trucks in Smethwick, Birmingham.

These acquisitions are funded by the REIT’s revolving credit facility, which was announced in July. The company is not developing its investments or assuming the associated risks but is instead forward funding each property on a fixed price basis. LXi Reit will receive an income from the developers during the construction periods.

John White, partner of LXi REIT, said: “We are pleased to be acquiring, on an off-market basis, these attractively-priced assets let on long leases to strong tenant covenants across robust sectors with high residual values, which are expected to provide our shareholders with further diversified, secure and inflation-linked income and capital growth potential.”