London & Stamford sells warehouse portfolio

London & Stamford, the property company run by industry veterans Raymond Mould and Patrick Vaughan, has disposed of a warehouse portfolio as it continues to build capital for new investment opportunities.

The 17-building portfolio in the Midlands fetched London & Stamford £265m, suggesting an initial yield of 6.9 per cent for the property arm of Blackstone, the buyer.

The deal will give London & Stamford a boost in its effort to build firepower to invest in the sector. The company now has a £900m cash pile waiting to be deployed.

London & Stamford is keen to expand into the residential sector as a large scale institutional landlord. The group is one of a number of property companies lobbying the government to adapt the existing laws governing Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits) to allow the creation of residential Reits.

London & Stamford has built a reputation for being one of the canniest operators in the property market during the past three years. However, it suffered a blow recently when GE Asset Management, its largest shareholder, announced plans to sell almost three-quarters of its 13.6 per cent stake in the company.

The deal comes just three days after Blackstone completed the largest single takeover of distressed property loans in the UK. In a deal with Royal Bank of Scotland, the private equity group took control of £1.4bn of loans made to so-called operating real estate, such as pubs, hotels, car parks and gyms.