9 Jan 2018

M7 secures new lettings to fully let its Portuguese portfolio

Portugal, 9 January 2018 – M7 Real Estate (“M7”), the pan-European real estate investor and asset manager, announces that it has agreed a number of new lettings across its circa 22,000 sq m Portuguese light industrial portfolio, bringing the total occupancy to 100% and increasing the average lease length by 45% to 2.62 years. The portfolio, which comprises two industrial parks in the Greater Lisbon area, was acquired by M7 in a joint venture in January 2016. M7 acts as asset manager for the assets through its Lisbon based team, which is headed by Leonardo Peres.

M7 has agreed five new lettings totaling over 3,267 sq m at the Tagus Industrial Park in Cacém, a suburb of Lisbon. New tenants include the food retailer Ibersol Group, a multi-brand business with a presence in the Iberian Peninsula and Portuguese-speaking countries, which has taken 1,020 sq m on a five year lease. The company operates 667 restaurants through various brands, including Pizza Hut, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken among others. Space has also been let to the aluminum products manufacturer, Anicolor (840 sq m with a five year lease); the heavy duty engine servicing company, Powerserv (720 sq m with five a year lease); the small supplement factory, Zumub (359 sq m with a five year lease); and the dental prosthetics company, DM Tech (328 sq m with a five year lease).

In addition, M7 has agreed over 2,000 sq m of new lettings at the Jamor Industrial Park in the Valejas-Carnaxide area of Greater Lisbon, resulting in the 8,351 sq m asset becoming fully occupied, up from its 35% vacancy rate at the beginning of 2017. New tenants include the publishing company, Publirep; the events company, Everything is New; the body repair mechanic, Alcântara Garage; and the mannequins producer, MRolo.

The two industrial parks, which have a total of 36 tenants, are located in the western corridor of Portugal outside of Lisbon, an established logistics hub. Since their acquisition, M7 has completed a number of asset management initiatives across both sites, including rooftop repairs, a new security CCTV control system, improved fire and safety measures and general maintenance, which have also resulted in a number of successful lease renegotiations with existing tenants. Jamor has witnessed an impressive increase of approximately 44% in the overall income whereas Tagus has seen a circa 20% increase in the annual rent with the WALT now at 1.82 and 2.44 respectively.

Leonardo Peres, Managing Director of M7 in Portugal commented: “Since acquiring the assets at the beginning of 2016, we have employed an active asset management strategy to increase the value of this portfolio and to grow income for our investors. The subsequent increase in occupancy across these assets, which is underpinned by the growing strength of the Portuguese property market, is a strong endorsement of this strategy and has resulted in us delivering a strong performance in 2017.”