Kingston Properties Limited (KPREIT) buys first United Kingdom property









Kingston Properties Limited (KPREIT) closed on the acquisition of a 20,000 SF fully tenanted office building in Bristol, United Kingdom on December 12, 2024, a move which marks the Group’s first acquisition in the UK, and it is part of a strategy of greater geographic diversification, management stated in its announcement.

“The property is located in the Aztec West Business Park just north of Bristol – the fifth largest city in the UK which attracts players in the aerospace, defence, engineering, financial services, media and environment services industries. KPREIT is bullish on the UK and expects the economy to see growth in 2025 with increased government spending and continuing interest rate cuts,” they said in the notice published on the Jamaica Stock Exchange.

Management said “The sub-urban small office sub sector continues to show resilience and is expected to continue to see growth with the campaign for a return to the office in the UK. The tenants in the building range in services from insurance, shipping, service offices providers and one of the largest suppliers of affordable housing and care in the UK. The rapid growth of the service or flexible office industry since the pandemic signals the direction of the office for the future and bodes well for the continuing demand for office space.”

The acquisition was funded using both debt and the proceeds from the sale of units at Tropic Centre in the Cayman Islands and now brings the geographic dispersion of KPREITs assets to: Cayman Islands (45 per cent), Jamaica (42 per cent), UK (7 per cent) and US (6 per cent).

The company has been in acquisition mode all year. On November 14, 2024, KPREIT completed the acquisition of a property on East Street in Downtown Kingston, Jamaica, on a sale and leaseback arrangement. The property is used as a parking lot that services the occupants of two buildings currently owned by the Company on Duke Street.


And on August 22, 2024, the company announced that it had closed on the acquisition of two buildings located at 6 Duke Street and 8-10 Duke Street in Kingston, Jamaica.


The acquisition was done on a sale and leaseback arrangement with Victoria Mutual Building Society and its affiliate VM Real Estate Holdings Limited. The buildings comprise a total square footage of just under 60,000 square feet and are fully leased.

Additionally, KPREIT closed on the sale of an additional four of the ten commercial units held at the Tropic Centre in the Cayman Islands. This acquisition brought to a total of nine units closed to date in the area with the final commercial unit currently under contract and is expected to close in September.

With the acquisition of the Duke Street properties in Jamaica and the sale of the units at Tropic Centre in Cayman, the Group’s holdings in the Cayman Islands now represent 49.6 per cent of the total portfolio while the Jamaican holdings represent 43.5 per cent.

For the third quarter ended September 30, 2024, management reported the progressive expansion of the investment property portfolio over the last 12 months, primarily with the acquisition the Grand Harbour Commercial Centre (GHCC) in the Cayman Islands as well as the acquisition of two buildings on Duke Street in Kingston, Jamaica on a sale and leaseback arrangement.


Results benefited from fair value gains derived from the disposal of selective assets in the Cayman Islands portfolio, as well as tenant occupancy rates at our properties across all geographic segments.


As of September 2024, occupancy rate was 91 per cent. Group rental Income for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, grew by 30 per cent YOY to $3.5 million, up from $2.7 million for the corresponding period in 2023.

Rental income for the third quarter increased by 22 per cent to $1.1 million compared to $939,184 in the prior year.


Total assets under management stood at $77.4 million as of September 2024 representing a 10 per cent YoY growth when compared to $70.2 million in 2023. The increased AUM was primarily attributable to the net 14 per cent growth in real estate investment assets, led by the acquisition of the Duke Street properties in Jamaica during August 2024 and the completion of the Gumtree 5 warehouse development project in Cayman.


Additionally, the Group experienced a $2.0 million improvement in fair value of investment properties held since December 2023 while spending over $1.0 million on property upgrades during the period.



The company has its eye on more UK properties. KPREIT outlined earlier in the year that it is swiftly moving to acquire property in the United Kingdom before the end of the year, seizing opportunities as expectations grow for cooling interest rates in the country.

The property management and development company had expressed its intention to acquire distressed UK properties for nearly two years but delayed due to rising interest rates and the anticipated availability of distressed properties in the commercial real estate market.

However, a shift came when the European Central Bank confirmed a widely expected reduction in interest rates, and the US Federal Reserve announced rate cuts.

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