Supermarket Investment - Ben Green

I had a fantastic discussion with Ben Green, Principal of Atrato Capital the Investment Advisor to The Supermarket REIT (SUPR)

SUPR is a FTSE 250 real estate trust and the UK’s only specialist grocery property investor. Atrato have advised SUPR since it’s IPO in 2017.

Atrato sources, advises and asset manages all of Supermarket Income REIT's investments. 

Ben has over 20 years’ experience structuring and executing real estate transactions. He has completed more than £3.5 billion of sale and leaseback transactions with occupiers including Barclays, the BBC and Tesco. 

Ben qualified as a lawyer in 1997 and began his career at Wilde Sapte and Linklaters LLP. He left law in 2000 and has since spent his banking career at Barclays, Lloyds and Goldman Sachs where he was Managing Director, European Head of Structured Finance. 

In this episode we discuss;

Why there is a belief that Supermarket assets are a resilient and counter cyclical asset class?

How did the supermarket sector perform in previous recessions such as the GFC and what if anything may be different this time around?

Why investors would invest in Supermarket assets when they yield similar to UK Gilts?

SUPR recently fixed all its variable debt with an average period of 4 years and interest rate of under 3%. Fantastic! What would be some of the changes in the market you would want to see before SUPR moved some of that debt to variable rate or considered drawing down new debt without hedging?

Around 81% of SUPR’s stores have index-linked rents. Is it concern you that many are capped at 4% increases despite inflation numbers going above that?

Omnichannel Supermarkets seemed to thrive during the pandemic due to their ability to be adaptable. Is it expected that those gains made will return to pre pandemic levels?

Around 12% of grocery shopping is done online vs in person. Which is more profitable for SUPR’s tenants and is that 12% expected to increase or decrease in the short and medium term based on cost of living issues?

SUPR and British Airways Pension Fund hold a 50:50 stake in a JV which holds a 51% interest in the Sainsbury’s Reversion Portfolio. That portfolio is one of the largest in the UK with 26 stores. What advice would you give to businesses looking to position themselves as an attractive partner in a Joint venture?

What Ben thinks about grocery led shopping centres or retail parks for the future vs stand alone stores? What are the positives and negatives?

What are the biggest risks to this asset class currently and what are the key mitigants?

What are some of the most obvious similarities and differences around the world in Supermarket assets?

And lots more...

Find out more information about The Supermarket REIT (SUPR) here https://www.supermarketincomereit.com/

You can also find out more about Atrato Group here https://www.atratogroup.com/

Thank you to our sponsors of the episode www.signaturepropertyfinance.co.uk If you require bridging or development finance please contact tony@signaturepropertyfinance.co.uk and quote the Rodcast to get your legals paid for.

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