Bristol’s ability to attract international property investment has been underlined by a consortium of South Korean institutional investors buying a major business scheme at Avonmouth.
The freehold interest in Accolade Park was sold by Keller Group for £62m. 
The property, developed in 2008, includes a modern high-specification, high bay packaging, warehouse, office and distribution facility, totalling around 872,000 sq ft on 35.63 acres.
The purpose-built property is let to wine importer Accolade Wines until 2034 at a passing rent of £4.25m. Accolade imports, process, package and distributes wine for the UK market, providing around one in five bottles supplied into the UK market from the site – around 300m bottles a year.
PGIM Real Estate Finance has issued a £31m loan to the consortium of South Korean institutional investors and Roebuck Asset Management have been appointed as the UK asset manager. The £62m price reflects a net initial yield of 6.5%.
Cushman & Wakefield investment partner Nick Allan, who acted on the sale, said: “There was strong investor interest for the asset, which is a testament to Accolade’s award-winning operation, their investment in the facility, security of income and Bristol’s status as a strategic location for logistics and its employment base.”
Aaron Knight, Director at PGIM, said: “The asset sits in an increasingly important location for logistics/distribution in the UK. As one of PGIM’s favoured asset types globally, we will continue to support attractive opportunities across the core and value add spectrum, such as Accolade Park.”
Hugh Macdonald-Brown at Roebuck Asset Management added: “Given Avonmouth is an established and continually improving logistics location and the warehouse is mission critical to Accolade Wines’ operation the investment provides an excellent opportunity to create value to both the investors and tenant. We are looking forward to working collaboratively with Accolade Wines and ensuring the overall efficiencies with the building can be significantly improved to assist with their longer-term plans.”
Cushman & Wakefield acted for the vendor, Keller Group plc, in the disposal of Accolade Park. Samil PwC acted for the purchasers. SEA Capital Ltd advised the purchasers on the senior debt.
