Estate in the UK: a good investment?

There are quite a few estates for sale in the United Kingdom (UK), but who invests in these companies and how large is the offer? In any case, it is striking that there is mainly interest in multifunctional or companies with secondary activities.

According to Farmer's Weekly the largest estate offered in the past year is worth over €35 million. It concerns Sutton Hall Estate, which is 881 hectares. This piece of estate is located in Suffolk (in the east of England).

In second place is an estate that has been put up for sale for €28 million and covers 1.300 hectares. However, there are also companies that are worth a lot less, such as Shackerstone Estate (700 hectares) in Leicestershire. That estate was sold for more than €15 million.

Buyers critical
The brokers who sell such companies find that the buyers are becoming more and more critical. It is striking that investors mainly opt for companies that are not dependent on an agricultural income. In particular, they choose companies that derive their income from multiple sources. The reason for this is that this softens the risk profile somewhat.

In addition, it often happens that an agricultural estate is bought and then converted into a company with various side activities. The companies that already have various sources of income are often not for sale. The owners of these companies do not put them up for sale, because they turn out to be a good investment.

Investors from England
Purchases of this scale are mainly made by investors from England. Incidentally, the average size of an agricultural holding in the UK is about 80 hectares. It largest arable farm is owned by James Dyson, known for the vacuum cleaner brand of the same name, and covers more than 14.000 hectares.

Anne-Jan Doorn

Anne Jan Doorn is an arable expert at Boerenbusiness. He writes about the various arable farming markets and also focuses on the land and energy market.

aj.doorn@boerenbusiness. Nl

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