Martin’s Properties ‘still have £65m of cash to invest’ after buying retail and shed portfolio for £23.1m Posted on: September 27th, 2022 London real estate company Martin’s Properties has snapped up a portfolio of four assets comprising a combined 130,000 sq ft in the South East for £23.1m.The four freehold assets, spanning 10 acres, include a Wickes retail warehouse in St Albans, Andover Retail Park in central Winchester and Speedfield Retail Park in Fareham, plus a multi-let industrial estate in Milton Keynes.The fully let portfolio, purchased with cash resources, is all currently rated EPC ‘C’ or higher and its acquisition will add £1.5m per year of rent for Martin’s Properties.The move also sees the company’s portfolio shift to over 30% of assets outside London for the first time in its history.Brook Stotesbury, head of commercial asset management and investment at Martin’s Properties, commented: “We were delighted to be presented with this opportunity at a significant discount to pricing at the start of the year. The assets represent good long-term income to strong covenants in excellent macro and micro locations within the South East.”Richard Bourne, chief executive of Martin’s Properties, said: “The off-market acquisition of this portfolio highlights our growing reputation including the strength of our team, the convenance of our capital and our ability to act swiftly.“We have been patient with our deployment of capital over the past two years and have quietly built up a strong cash position which we are now able to deploy in an evolving market.“We now have over £320m and 500,000 sq ft of assets under management and have radically changed the composition of our portfolio, having deployed over £40m of cash in the last two months and £63m in the last 12 months.”He added: “We still have £65m of cash to invest and continue to look for opportunities to use our in-house development and asset management expertise. Our immediate focus is on securing further acquisitions where we can add value through development and repositioning to deliver opportunistic risk-adjusted returns.”