Global Net Lease Sells Cold Storage Portfolio to Americold for $170M
GNL’s Michael Weil said proceeds from the deal allow his firm to pay down its debt and reduce leverage
By Brian Pascus June 27, 2024 11:21 am
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A pair of publicly traded real estate investment trusts (REITs) have traded cash for property.
Global Net Lease, a REIT that specializes in retail assets, has sold a cold-storage industrial portfolio to Americold Realty Trust, the second-largest owner of temperature-controlled warehouses in the world, for $170 million.
The nine-building cold-storage portfolio carries a collective cap rate of 7.88 percent with an average of roughly three years remaining on the lease terms. Global Net Lease (GNL) had previously acquired the portfolio for $154 million.
The REIT announced that it plans to use the net proceeds from the sale to reduce debt and existing leverage, and this trade isn’t the first It announced earlier this month in its quarterly earnings report that it has either closed, or is in the process of closing, dispositions of up to $567 million.
In a statement, Michael Weil, CEO of GNL, said that the firm’s use of sales proceeds to pay down debt will help the REIT align with its peers who have lower debt-to-cash-flow ratios.
“We believe the sale of this portfolio not only reduces risk within our portfolio by eliminating uncertainty around tenant renewals but also extends our weighted average remaining lease term,” said Weil. “We continue to be extremely pleased with the velocity of our strategic disposition initiative and we look forward to continuing to execute on this strategy until we narrow the gap between the value of our real estate and our stock price.”
GNL traded at $7.18 per share as of Thursday. The stock price traded at $15.01 in early February 2023 and reached a five-year high of $21.64 in February 2020.
Weil’s firm boasts a portfolio of more than 1,200 properties over 66 million square feet, with a majority of its assets in the U.S. and United Kingdom. About half of its assets are single-tenant and multi-tenant retail, while the rest are made up of single-tenant office and industrial and distribution centers.
Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Atlanta, Americold Realty Trust is the nation’s only publicly traded REIT solely in the cold-storage supply chain space. The firm has 241 temperature-controlled warehouses spanning 1.5 billion square feet in its portfolio.
Americold’s stock traded at $25.50 as of Thursday and the stock reached a five-year high of $40.39 in April 2021.
Americold did not respond to requests for comment.
Brian Pascus can be reached at bpascus@commercialobserver.com
