Schroders Capital completes sale of West Midlands distribution park

By Peter Davison

9 August 2023

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Hams Hall Distribution Park

Schroders Capital’s real estate team have finalised the sale of Unit 3C at Hams Hall Distribution Park in Birmingham to URBZ Capital, on behalf of their capital partner Ivanhoé Cambridge.

The 177,800 sq ft distribution facility, developed in 2001, was acquired by Schroders Capital UK Real Estate Fund in October 2021 as part of a £345m industrial swap deal with SEGRO.

It is let until August 2026 to DHL Supply Chain Limited which manages the Selfridges contract from the facility, distributing products to the retailer’s department stores in London, Manchester, and Birmingham, as well as its worldwide e-commerce operation.

The disposal of Hams Hall follows Schroders Capital’s industrials team successful completion of an outstanding rent review in line with the business plan for the asset, which included the sale of in accordance with the Fund’s active management strategy.

Towards the end of last year Schroders Capital’s industrials team oversaw the practical completion of several new units at Hartlebury Trading Estate in the West Midlands which increased SCREF’s industrial weighting to 33.62 per cent.

In addition, the team completed 275,000 sq ft of new industrial and logistics letting transactions across SCREF’s UK-wide portfolio amongst others at SCREF’s multi-let industrial parks at Hartlebury Trading Estate, and the Acorn Industrial Park in Crayford.

Rob Cosslett, Fund Manager at Schroders Capital, said: “The sale of Hams Hall is in-line with SCREF’s strategy of divesting out of assets upon the completion of the business plan.

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"The price achieved reflects the demand for well-located industrial assets in the UK as well as the asset management capabilities of the wider Schroders Capital team who managed to secure a strong uplift at the recent rent review with a leading occupier, making the asset more attractive to institutional buyers.

“We are always looking to create long sustainable income and deliver value to our investors. The returns delivered by the sale of Hams Hall will support committed capital expenditure initiatives across the existing portfolio to increase value and to further grow our allocation to multi-let industrial assets.”

SCREF were advised by Gerald Eve while DTRE acted on behalf of Urbz Capital.

By Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country.

An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts.

Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.