U.K. grocery store portfolio for €573m

LXi REIT has exchanged contracts to acquire a portfolio of 18 prime grocery store assets predominantly located in Southern England from Sainsbury's, the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, for £500 million (€573 million/$563 million).

The assets will be leased to Sainsbury's Supermarkets, the main trading company of J Sainsbury.

In a separate deal, Sainsbury's plans to use the cash to partly fund the purchase of 21 stores from the Highbury and Dragon investment vehicles. Sainsbury's has held a 49 percent interest in Highbury and Dragon since it was created in 2000. The vehicles hold the freeholds of 26 Sainsbury's supermarkets.

The remaining 51 percent is owned by a joint venture between Supermarket Income REIT and British Airways Pension Trustees Ltd.