Dawnay Day Carpathian has bought a portfolio of supermarkets in Hungary for €82.5m (£55m) at an initial yield of 7.8%.

It has bought the 23 cash and carry shops in a sale and leaseback deal from SCD International in the tenth transaction by the Company since its initial placement offering in July 2005.

The shops are located in Budapest and regional cities throughout Hungary, and have a total lettable area of 1,130,220 sq ft (105,000 sq m). The stores are let on 15 year leases to Interfruct, Hungary’s largest cash and carry retailer, at an average rent of €5.00/sq m (£3.35/sq m). All the stores have redevelopment potential in the longer term.

Dawnay will buy 17 shops in the first phase of the deal, which is financed by €49.5m (£33.17m) equity. The rest of the portfolio will be bought by the 30th March next year once the vendor has fulfilled a number of conditions. Dawnay Day expects to refinance part of the equity used for the initial purchase within the next six weeks.

Dawnay owns more than 15 shopping centres throughout Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania and Lithuania.