Helical Bar Regulatory News (HLCL)

18 September 2013

Helical Bar plc ("Helical" or "Helical Bar" or the "Group")

Helical Bar Acquires Multi-Sector Portfolio

Helical Bar today announces that it has exchanged contracts to acquire the Quartz Portfolio, comprising 10 regional properties, from overseas private clients of Jones Lang LaSalle for c. £50 million, reflecting a yield in excess of 8.0%.

The 10 single let properties in the portfolio are located across the UK. The composition of the portfolio is as follows:

· Five retail and leisure assets, totalling over 90,000 sq ft, located in Lancaster, Cardiff, Birkenhead, Doncaster and Redditch. Tenants include Clydesdale Bank, Homebase, The Co-Operative Group and JD Wetherspoon;

· Four office properties, totalling 195,000 sq ft, located in Crawley, Nottingham, Oldham and Reading. Tenants include the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Thames Water, Derbyshire Police Authority and APV UK; and

· One industrial asset of 147,000 sq ft located in Cannock let to Nicholl Food Packaging.

The average weighted unexpired lease term is approximately 14 years to expiry and 12 years to break. In total, the portfolio generates a total net rent of £4.16 million, with five of the properties offering fixed rental increases.

The purchase will be funded using existing cash resources and c. £31 million of bank debt from Helical's existing facilities with RBS and Barclays.

Duncan Walker, Investment Director at Helical Bar, commented:

"The acquisition of this diversified portfolio let to strong covenants provides good cashflow for the Group, while also giving us exposure to sectors where we anticipate capital growth. Since our successful retail bond issue, we have found a number of exciting opportunities in which to invest that are in line with our strategy to buy income-generating assets while also focusing on London assets which offer the potential to grow in capital value."

Jones Lang LaSalle acted for the vendor, Lambert Smith Hampton acted for Helical Bar.

 -ENDS-

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