Marchmont Investment Management (“Marchmont”) and Intermediate Capital Group (“ICG”) are pleased to announce that they have acquired Whirlpool’s c. 78 acre UK HQ site in Peterborough for £54m in a primary sale & leaseback transaction. Whirlpool have taken a 15+5+5 year lease over the operational element of the property with Marchmont and ICG controlling the remainder c. 25 acres brownfield site plus residual land.
Whirlpool is the world’s leading kitchen and laundry appliance company and have the largest share of domestic appliances in the UK. Whirlpool have occupied the site for in excess of 60 years and operate and serve several household brands from the property including Indesit, Hotpoint and KitchenAid.
Chad Brown, Investment Director of Sale & Leaseback at ICG said, “This is an important transaction for ICG SLB as it shows how we differentiate ourselves from our traditional competitors who seek passive long income. We actively seek asset management opportunities, the likes of which the Peterborough site presents. We intend to bring forward the surplus land for development with our partner Marchmont and look forward to partnering with the Tenant to support their long-term occupational requirements for the campus.
ICG’s SLB fund is actively seeking similar opportunities across Europe. Mission critical facilities which require active asset management are a core target for our fund, alongside traditional long and short let single tenanted real estate.”
Cameron Fraser Director of Marchmont said, “Peterborough is one of the fastest growing cities in the UK and offers fantastic opportunities for the industrial and logistics sector, thanks to its excellent road connectivity and strong labour supply”.
“We look forward to working with ICG to deliver a highly-specified, sustainable logistics estate, with modern facilities and amenities that will utilise the latest innovations in design, construction and energy generation.
Whirlpool was advised by CBRE and Mayer Brown. ICG was advised by Marchmont, DTRE and Hogan Lovells.