Sirius Real Estate has deepened its exposure to Europe’s growing defence and industrial manufacturing sectors with the acquisition of a light-industrial business park in Fulda, Germany, for €49.8m (R949m).The asset is production-led, with a significant proportion of space used for manufacturing and warehousing, and is anchored by a leading European manufacturer of ballistic protection equipment supplying military and law enforcement customers.It is located about 100km northeast of Frankfurt in the economically significant Hesse region, comprises 57,771m² of lettable space on a 112,867m² site and is fully let with a weighted average lease expiry of 5.1 years.The property currently generates annual rental income of €3.93m (R75m) and was acquired at an EPRA net initial yield of 7.8%.CEO Andrew Coombs said the transaction aligns with the group’s strategy of deploying capital into high-yielding industrial assets underpinned by structural demand drivers.“We have identified opportunities to grow income through the expansion of the anchor tenant, while benefiting from the strength of the existing rent roll from day one,” he said.The tenant accounts for 78% of the rent roll and has agreed to expand its footprint over time as additional space becomes available, with rental income expected to edge closer to €4m (R76.2m), the group said.“The tenant contributes 78% of the current rent roll and has agreed to take additional space as it becomes available, with annual rental income expected to approach about €4m," the group said. The acquisition adds to Sirius’ expanding portfolio of defence-related assets, which now exceeds €200m (R3.8bm) in value at a blended gross yield of about 8.9%, it said.In its results for the year ending March, the group, which owns and operates branded business and industrial parks in the UK and Germany, said its acquisitions are paying off, with an 18.4% year-on-year increase in rent roll and a 6.4% rise on a like-for-like basis.