Shrewsbury's Stadco factory site sold in multi-million pound deal

The 18.66-acre Stadco site in Harlescott, which went onto the market for £8.65 million, has been sold to Irish-based Mm Capital.

The firm exchanged contracts in July and plans to break up the existing site into smaller industrial units, with yard space ranging from 10,000 sq ft to 150,000 sq ft.

It is targeting owner-occupier businesses looking to expand in the area and for property investors seeking to acquire units in order to achieve a return on capital.

With commercial/industrial land opportunities limited in the town, this presents a rare opportunity for businesses to relocate into Shrewsbury from other areas of Shropshire and the West Midlands, according to selling agents Halls Commercial.

The property also offers a rare opportunity in the region to acquire commercial premises benefitting from up to 17m eaves height, which makes them ideal for e-commerce/distribution requirements and is a growth sector in the commercial market place at present, Halls added.

Mm Capital was founded in 2013 by Peter Leonard and Derek Poppinga, and although based in Ireland the company has been looking to invest in the UK for many years but until now had not found the right opportunity.

Mr Leonard, managing director at Mm Capital, said: “I have been living in Shrewsbury for over 10 years now and when the Stadco site came onto the market I knew straight away this would be a great opportunity to bring new investment and jobs to the town.

Deploy

“As a company we feel there is a huge demand in the industrial sector and this is something we are keen to deploy a lot of capital into for the foreseeable future.”

The site was previously occupied by Magna International, which last year made the decision to relocate its operations to its Telford, Castle Bromwich and Powys facilities. Halls Commercial was instructed to sell the industrial complex which provides commercial buildings with a total gross internal floor area of about 301,240 sq ft.

James Evans, head of Commercial at Halls who negotiated the sale of the site, said: “This was a unique site with huge scope for investors and property speculators, and we saw interest from throughout the United Kingdom and beyond.

“We are delighted as a team to secure this sale and bring new jobs and inward investment to the town.”

Stadco, which is short for the Shrewsbury Tool and Die Company, supplies aluminium and steel castings for car parts and increased its operations in Shropshire after landing a £15 million contract with Jaguar Land Rover in 2014.