Royal London Asset Management Property has bought Fradley Park in Lichfield, West Midlands, for £197 million in an off-market transaction.
The vendor is understood to be US private equity giant Ares.
Within the Golden Triangle, Fradley Park comprises 1.65 million square feet of warehousing and spans 173 acres. The site is connected to the the A38, M6 Toll and wider motorway links, and is close to key freight hubs and airports.
It is home to tenants including DHL, Geodis, Hawkins Logistics, Palletways and Faurecia. The park employs over 4,000 people and has a workforce of over 1 million people within a 30-minute drive time.
RLAM said the acquisition forms part of a strategy to grow its logistics portfolio by "securing best-in-class prime assets, aimed at delivering long-term returns for its investors via active asset and development management".
Will Edwards, portfolio fund manager at Royal London Asset Management Property, said in a statement: “The purchase of Fradley Park is in line with our strategy of investing at scale into high-quality assets with an attractive occupational supply/demand dynamic that offer the potential for enhanced performance. It demonstrates our conviction in the industrial market and compliments our recent purchases of development land at Enderby in Leicester and Brackmills in Northampton.”
Matthew Barnes, investment manager at Royal London Asset Management Property, added: “Fradley Park, which will be the largest industrial asset in our portfolio, has strong fundamentals and deliverable opportunities for active asset management and development. With the outlook for the Midlands logistics market remaining highly positive, this a timely and strategic addition to our portfolio.”
Royal London Asset Management Property’s £3.4 billion industrial and logistics portfolio continues to grow. Recent activity includes six new acquisitions with a combined gross development value of £1.5 billion, including Enderby Logistics Hub with a GDV of £300 million, and Brackmills 54 with a GDV of £340 million, alongside £180 million in strategic disposals from lower-return investments.
RLAMP sold a different 1.2 million-square-foot portfolio of industrial and logistics assets to Ares Management Real Estate funds for around £200 million in 2024.
That portfolio comprised a mix of multilet industrial and single-let distribution assets in South East and Midlands logistics markets, such as Coleshill Hams Hall, Plots 3, 4 and 5 Ravensbank in Redditch, Pantheon 6 in Wolverhampton, Wellingborough and Crawley. RLAM continued to asset manage the portfolio for Ares.
Royal London Asset Management Property was advised by JLL and Pinsent Masons. The vendors were advised by Knight Frank and DLA Piper.