On behalf of LaSalle Investment Management, leisure investment property specialists Coffer Corporate Leisure, has completed the acquisition of a 6-strong nationwide pub portfolio for a sum of £17.8 million. The portfolio, acquired from real estate investment firm Aprirose, included 3 London pubs: The Albion in Islington, the Fox and Hounds in Putney, and the Green Dragon in Croydon. The other half of the portfolio comprised The Malt House in Brindley Place, Birmingham, the Royal Oak in Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire and the Old Bell in Harpenden, Hertfordshire.

The pubs were all let on long leases to subsidiaries of either Stonegate Pub Company, Spirit Pub Company or Punch Partnership, and the portfolio possessed a weighted average unexpired lease term of over 25 years.

Mark Sheehan, managing director at Coffer Corporate Leisure, said: “In the current economic climate, pubs are amongst the most robust and defensible of all commercial property assets.

Good assets have a very long trading history through various property cycles. Quality pubs are often held on long leases, providing investors with the security of long term income and the flexibility of underlying property value. This particular portfolio was secured off market to satisfy a specific requirement. This is the sixth portfolio we have advised on in the last eighteen months. We expect the market to see further transactional activity.”