One of Britain’s fastest growing cut price retailers is hoping to put together a sale and leaseback deal on its Merseyside Qube distribution centre.
B&M Bargains — which is asking £36.5m for its 500,000 sq ft Estuary Commerce Park warehouse — completed a similar deal three years ago when it off loaded its neighbouring south Liverpool distribution base. In 2011 it sold The Vault to the German-owned RREEF property trust and immediately leased back the 600,000 sq ft logistics hub.
GVA’s Manchester office is handling the sale. “This is a serious warehouse with a serious tenant,” explained the commercial agent’s senior director David Winterbottom. “B&M’s retail model requires huge amounts of space from which goods are despatched all over the country, all times of day.
“The Qube gives them nearly half-a-million square feet of pure warehousing in a fantastically networked location. The long lease they have signed proves their commitment to this property, a commitment which will pay handsome dividends to the purchaser of this site.”
Founded in 1978, B & M has 380 high street and out of town stores across the UK, as well as 49 stores under the JAWOLL and HAFU brands in Germany.
In the early years of the recession it expanded rapidly, acquiring the Glyn Webb chain of do-it-yourself outlets and converting them to the B&M Homestore format. The retailer has also purchased a number of former Kwik Save, Woolworths, Au-Naturale and Focus DIY premises.
Floated on the London Stock Exchange earlier this summer with a price tag of £2.7bn, B&M has already announced plans to open more than 200 additional stores in the coming years.
Last year builders’ merchant and home improvement retailer Travis Perkins completed a similar Merseyside deal with Standard Life Investments when it sold and leased back its 630,000 sq ft distribution base at Omega North, on the M62 at Warrington, for £52.8m.
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