Harworth Group has completed the sale of seven multi-let industrial estates across the North West, Yorkshire and East Midlands, generating circa £70m.
The final estate to be sold was Melton Commercial Park in Melton Mowbray (pictured), which was purchased by ALMCOR for an undisclosed price.
The other six assets were: Towngate Business Centre, Widnes, and Alpha in Preston, which were bought by private investors in Q2 2023; Selby Energy Park, Selby – purchased by Charterhouse in Q2 2023; Sinfin Commercial Park, Derby – purchased by Hortons in Q1 2023; Four Oaks Business Park, Preston – purchased by FD Holdings in Q1 2023; and Moorland Gate Business Park, Chorley – purchased by Kerax Holdings in Q1 2023.
The sale proceeds will also be used by Harworth to pursue other elements of the company’s growth strategy.
Jonathan Haigh, chief investment officer of Harworth, said: “Harworth continues to develop sustainable Grade A industrial and logistics space across the regions, as we progress our growth strategy to become a £1bn business by 2027. As we retain more of these high-specification units, we have sought to recycle capital from the sale of our more mature assets such as those in the Pegasus Portfolio.
“These transactions demonstrate continued demand for high-quality industrial and logistics assets from investors and we are grateful for the Savills team’s support in getting them across the line.”
Peter Cooper-Parry, head of the portfolio investment team at Savills, which advised Harworth on the disposal programme, added: “We are very pleased to have successfully completed the sale of Melton Commercial Park, the final asset in the successful disposal programme for Harworth. Given the economic headwinds and the perception of thin investor demand during this period, we were very encouraged to see solid demand for each of the assets from a range of investors.”
Oliver Foster, head of investment at Savills Manchester, said: “The assets were well positioned to capture interest from both a thematic perspective, with a number offering significant ‘open storage’ opportunities, as well as from the traditional industrial investors where significant capital is targeting multi-let estates in regional locations. These investors are drawn to assets with attractive yield profiles with scope to grow rents.”
