Tesco Inks $819M Sale-Leaseback Deal

LONDON-Tesco plc and an unnamed UK pension fund have entered into a $819 million sale-leaseback deal. The transaction is structured as a 50-50 joint venture with the pension fund and Britain’s biggest retailer, according to reports issued this morning.

The transaction includes 15 Tesco retail stores and two distribution centers, for a total of 2.7 million square feet.

According to reports, Tesco signed a 30-year retail price index linked eases with an average initial yield of 5.2% for the stores and 6.3% for the distribution centers.

As GlobeSt.com reported in July, W.P. Carey and a local Tesco branch inked a Hungarian sale-leaseback deal. The investment firm is providing €63 million, or $90 million, in long-term financing for a sale-leaseback of Tesco’s Hungarian logistics portfolio.

Tesco now has more than 4,300 stores worldwide in a variety of markets including China, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, UK and US. The company owns 2,282 stores in the UK.