By Joe Hoppe
Home REIT said Wednesday that Redemption Project CIC–a tenant of 152 properties in its portfolio making up 11% of rent demanded in June–has entered into creditors’ voluntary liquidation.
The real estate investment trust said that Serenity Support CIC, a tenant of 10 properties and making up 1% of rent demanded in June, has also entered creditors’ voluntary liquidation.
Begbies Traynor Group and Cornerstone Business Recovery have been appointed liquidators of Redemption and Serenity respectively.
The company said neither of the tenants are paying rent and the liquidation will allow it to re-tenant and carry out other asset-management initiatives as soon as possible.
Home REIT said it was working with the liquidators to ensure a smooth handover, minimizing potential disruption to occupants and stabilizing the portfolios. Discussions with prospective tenants to take on new leases on the properties have already begun.
Home REIT previously said it received a report on Feb. 15 on rent collection and the operational performance of its portfolio following a detailed review by specialists. The report highlighted a serious deterioration in rent collections for the quarter to November 2022 and serious challenges in rent collection for December and January, the company said, with only 23% of the November quarter rent collected. Rent collection forecasts are also highly uncertain, it said at the time.
In February, Home REIT also said it was considering a sale of the company and that it had received an unsolicited approach from Bluestar Group.
Shares in the company are temporarily suspended as its auditor BDO LLP completes an enhanced set of procedures, delaying the publication of its fiscal 2022 results.
Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com
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