3.8% rise for Max portfolio

Max Property Group, the company led by Nick Leslau and Mike Brown, which acquired 29 Enterprise Inns pubs in a £42.6m sale-and-leaseback deal in January, has reported a 3.8% uplift in the value of the portfolio at the end of March.

The 29 pubs, which were in high-value residential areas in and around London, were let on new 35-year leases to Enterprise at market rents totalling £3m with minimum 3% and maximum 4% annual RPI-linked uplifts.

The net initial yield on the portfolio was 6.7% and the capital value at cost was £300 per square foot.

The company said that the independently assessed vacant possession value of the portfolio was approximately the same as the purchase price, and many of the properties "are considered by the management team to have a higher alternative value for residential use in the event that they fell vacant and planning consent was secured".

Since the acquisition, Max Property has sold the Rose & Crown pub in Chelsea for £2.1m at a net initial yield of 4.5%, which equates to a £650 per square foot capital value, realising a profit of £600,000, 41% above the gross purchase price.