Kent Foods, one of Europe’s leading suppliers of ingredients to the food manufacturing industry, has acquired the freehold of the 73,257 sq ft Barberry72 warehouse at Sopwith Way in Daventry, Northamptonshire.
The £9.4 million deal is expected to bring further investment and new jobs to the area as part of Kent Foods’ expansion strategy, said Barberry development director Jon Robinson. The high specification unit has been developed on the 3.5-acre site of a former Focus DIY store.
Jon said: “Barberry 72 is a prominent, high quality warehouse/manufacturing unit, in the highly sought-after mid-box size range, in what is an excellent location within the golden triangle of logistics. This transaction has delivered the outputs of our business plan and secured a new quality occupier for Daventry, creating economic growth and new jobs for the town.
“We are delighted to have completed the sale of Barberry 72 to Kent Foods and we wish the company success with its new regional distribution centre. Once again, the high quality of our speculative development, the Grade A location and the appetite within the Mid-Box industrial and logistics sector for warehouse units of this size and the ability to offer freehold and leasehold terms has proved to be a winning combination.”
Glasgow-based Kent Foods is one of Europe’s largest independent suppliers of sugars, sweeteners, dairy products, oils and fats to the food manufacturing industry. It also stocks and supplies a wide range of related ingredients to provide a quality and comprehensive product range for customers.
Rob Watts, associate director of Avison Young, who acted for Kent Foods, said: “We were delighted to act for Kent Foods in this transaction. A comprehensive search was undertaken last year to identify and acquire a new facility for their expanding operations. We identified Barberry 72 in Daventry as a preferred building due to the excellent location and specification.
“It was a pleasure to work with the Barberry team during the process and we wish Kent Foods all of the best in their new acquisition.”
Simon Norton, Director, Colliers who acted for Barberry, said: “The sale to Kent foods demonstrates the agile approach Barberry can offer to occupiers providing grade A product in a market that requires developers to deliver.”
Frontier Development Capital (FDC), an independent fund manager, supported the development with a loan of £3.75m in August 2020 from the FDC Debt Fund, a £100 million fund for mid-market SMEs and property developers providing loan investments up to £10million.
Ed Bradburn, investment director, property finance, at FDC, said: “Industrial sites of this quality and in such a strategic location for the industrial and logistics sector are highly sought after, so it’s fantastic to see Barberry 72 sold to Kent Foods Limited. This high quality development demonstrates how the FDC debt fund can be used to support regional property developers to progress speculative projects to a successful outcome. We look forward to continuing our strong working relationship with the Barberry team.”
Both Savills and Colliers acted on behalf of Barberry. Barberry72 is located in the established industrial estate of Drayton Fields, half a mile from the A45, leading to J18 of the M1 around 6.5 miles away. Major occupiers nearby include Amazon, Tesco, Ford, Wincanton and Cummings.
Barberry has a 3.3 million sq ft industrial/logistics development pipeline with a Gross Development Value of more than £400 million. The company has 455 acres of strategic land, with a development land value of £225 million, across 10 sites under its control, and a £30 million commercial and residential value add portfolio.
It is currently developing a £35 million state-of-the-art precision engineering advanced manufacturing and design facility for a global leader in military and commercial engine controls systems in Gloucestershire. Work recently started on site to deliver the 184,000 sq ft centre of excellence for Moog’s Aircraft Controls Segment at Ashchurch, Tewkesbury.
Barberry also recently started working on site to deliver IMI Truflo Marine’s multi-million-pound centre of engineering excellence in Birmingham. A state-of-the-art manufacturing and design facility is being developed at Birmingham’s Advanced Manufacturing Hub (AMH). IMI Truflo Marine will relocate to the manufacturing hub in Witton from its existing facility nearby.