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HINES, the international real estate firm, has acquired the Royal Mail sorting warehouse in Edinburgh for around £25 million.
The 215,745-square-foot facility sits in Sighthill Industrial Estate adjacent to Hermiston Gait Retail Park to the west end of the city.
The property serves as the collection and sorting point for all mail from the east side of Scotland and employs over 700 people on site.
The acquisition from RPMI RailPen marks the third investment in UK logistics assets by Hines Global in 2019.
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It acquired a 139,387-square-foot asset in Milton Keynes, occupied by men’s clothing retailer Charles Tyrwhitt, and a 270,248-square-foot distribution facility in Bristol, occupied by DSG Retail, in November 2019.
Sherri Schugart, chief executive of Hines Global, said: “We are excited to expand Hines Global’s presence in the UK logistics market by completing our third strategic logistics acquisition in the UK and our ninth acquisition worldwide this year
“We continue to see attractive opportunities to acquire high quality assets in strategic markets globally.”
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Greg Cooper, Hines UK director of industrial and logistics, said: “The site is a key location for Royal Mail and is well positioned to serve Edinburgh and the wider east of Scotland. We continue to see value in logistics assets that benefit from close proximity to established distribution nodes and good tenants.”
ACRE Capital Real Estate advised Hines Global on the deal and Knight Frank represented RPMI Railpen. RPMI Railpen is responsible for the safekeeping and investment of around £30 billion on behalf of the Railways Pension Scheme’s 350,000 members who are connected to the railway industry.
Separately, Hines Pan-European Core Fund, one of Hines’ flagship funds, has completed the acquisition of 20 West Register Street, formerly the Mint Building, a prime 60,000-square-foot office scheme in the heart of Edinburgh.
Hines agreed the forward purchase of the building from Edinburgh-based property development and investment company, Chris Stewart Group, this summer in an off-market transaction. It is pre-let on a 15-year lease to investment management firm Baillie Gifford.
