Sirius sells property in Germany, buys two in UK

German business park and storage warehouse owner Sirius Real Estate has sold one of its business parks in Germany and bought two assets in the UK.

The Kassel business park in the southwest of Germany for €7.3m (R147.1m), a premium of about 5% to its book value of €6.95m, the company, valued at about R23.3bn on the JSE, said on Tuesday.

The asset, which has an occupancy rate of 92%, has 8,342m² slightly larger than a football pitch of lettable area comprising industrial, office, logistic and other space.

“Our disposal of Kassel at a premium to book value has allowed us to capitalise on demand for this high-quality property,” CEO Andrew Coombs said. “In the current market, we are focused on improving rental levels and providing tenants with the flexibility and services they need. We see plenty of opportunities to continue creating value through asset management across the BizSpace portfolio, as we have successfully achieved through the Sirius platform with our German assets,” Coombs said.

Sirius, which is listed in London and Johannesburg, operates in Germany and the UK and has a portfolio of about 140 properties. Its strategy is to buy properties and reconfigure or upgrade them. Due to the high demand for space, the company is able to increase rentals with little resistance from tenants.

Meanwhile, the real estate investment trust acquired two properties in Liverpool and Barnsley in the UK for £9.5m for its BizSpace subsidiary. The two properties have a combined area of 6,685m², almost the size of one football pitch.