St Modwen expands logistics portfolio with Hayes acquisition

St Modwen has bought the 165,500 sq ft Westlands industrial estate in Hayes, west London, as it seeks to ramp up its strategy to acquire standing assets. The developer and manager acquired the estate for £80m from M&G. The property, which comprises three high-specification warehouses on a 7.2-acre site, is fully let.  Logistics company Nippon Express occupies 125,000 sq ft, while aerospace equipment manufacturer Attewell has taken  40,500 sq ft across two warehouses.  Hayes is one of London’s most established industrial submarkets, and Westlands is less than three miles from Heathrow airport. The estate is next to Hayes & Harlington station, which benefited from the opening of the Elizabeth Line in June. Polly Troughton, managing director at St Modwen Logistics, said: “Hayes is one of London’s most competitive industrial submarkets and this is a rare opportunity to acquire prime warehouse space in a key last-mile location.  “This transaction also aligns with our long-term strategy to own and manage space that supports our customers’ ambitions for growth.  “Following a number of new appointments to our transactions team we will be ramping up the acquisition of standing assets across the UK, alongside our development programme.”  The transaction further increases St Modwen’s exposure to urban warehousing following the £180m acquisition of a portfolio of eight assets from Argo Real Estate in November last year.  St Modwen, which was acquired by Blackstone in August 2021, has a portfolio consisting of 9.5m sq ft of standing assets and 2.2m sq ft of new developments targeted for delivery in 2022.  See how much space the top agents are transacting in the London industrial market >>  To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@eg.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @EGPropertyNews