TDG Ltd Announces £22 Million Sale Leaseback of Eight Cold Storage Facilities in the UK

W. P. Carey Website - May 4, 2010

W. P. Carey & Co. LLC (NYSE: WPC), a global investment management company that provides long term sale leaseback and build to suit financing for companies, announced today that CPA®:17 – Global, one of its publicly held non-traded REIT affiliates, has purchased eight cold storage facilities from UK logistics and supply chain management company TDG Limited for a total consideration of £22 million ($34 million), including acquisition fees, in an all-equity transaction. The purchase of a ninth cold storage facility is pending subject to final approvals and is expected to close in the next few weeks. The properties are leased back to TDG on a long term basis. The nine properties, which total over 46,000 square meters (500,000 square feet) of cold storage warehousing and office space, are located across England and Wales.

TDG Ltd operates throughout Europe, including the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, the Benelux, Poland and Hungary, and is 100% owned by private equity investment firm Douglas Bay Capital PLC.

Agents on the transaction were Celtic Asset Management and GVA Grimley for TDG and Knight Frank for W. P. Carey.

Jennifer Walsh, Director of W. P. Carey, said:

“We at W. P. Carey have recognised the growth potential that TDG offers, last year producing results well ahead of its competitors. In addition, the UK public cold storage industry has proved a defensive and stable one in recent months. We believe that the acquired portfolio includes some of TDG’s most sustainable sites, offering a diversified customer base and large geographical market shares.
“This transaction further demonstrates W. P. Carey’s ability to work with private equity firms in order to develop alternative financing structures that support their broader investment strategies as well as provide capital to their portfolio companies.”

Mike Brannigan, CEO of TDG, said:

“We are pleased about this new business relationship with W. P. Carey. The transaction is another key milestone in our property and business strategy to further strengthen our balance sheet in order to reinvest and accelerate the development of TDG. Over the past year TDG has substantially changed its business profile and is now best placed to capitalise on a more benign economic environment.

“We are delighted to work with long term partners such as W. P. Carey, who understands the sector and TDG's long term objectives.” Sphere: Related Content