Hermes Real Estate has exchanged on the sale of three MEPC mixed use parks for £430 million at an initial yield of 7.3 per cent. Funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. ("Oaktree") and Patrizia Immobilien will take ownership of the three parks in the South East, North West and Scotland: Chineham Park in Basingstoke, Birchwood Park in Warrington and Hillington Park in Glasgow.
Chris Taylor, CEO of Hermes Real Estate and Chairman of MEPC said: “We are delighted to confirm the sale of these three relatively mature estates, which have been well managed by the MEPC team for many years, at a point in the cycle when we are seeking to redeploy capital and invest into estates that will benefit from what we regard as the emerging growth sectors of the UK economy.”
MEPC will continue to manage four business parks including the £500 million technology park at Silverstone. In addition, MEPC will manage the continued expansion of Milton Park with its globally recognised biotechnology occupier base and competitive status within the dynamic Oxford-Cambridge ‘Technology Arc’. MEPC has also commenced development at Wellington Place, Leeds reflecting the strength of occupier demand for well-located regional city centre offices.
Chris Taylor continued: “Through our top-down approach to investment we will seek to capitalise upon the MEPC team’s proven ability to identify future occupational demand drivers and look to reposition the portfolio to ensure we capture future economic growth, which we expect to be sustained by three of today’s key investment themes associated with technology, globalisation and urbanisation.”
Rob Brook of Patrizia Immobilien said: “This considerable acquisition adds three high quality assets to our expanding UK-wide portfolio. Each of the three parks provide significant development opportunities within growing regional markets, which, working alongside Oaktree, we aim to maximise over the next few years through additional investment and asset management initiatives.”
James Dipple CEO of MEPC added: “This is a significant moment in the life of MEPC. Over our many years of stewardship, we have created a market leading portfolio by consistently meeting the changing needs of occupiers and delivering high quality working environments. We are confident the assets will continue to develop and grow under the new ownership and management. MEPC is already embracing new challenges at the remaining four parks within our portfolio and delivering material changes to large management intensive properties with a focus on meeting the needs of modern businesses in the technology and business services sector.”
Hermes Real Estate was represented by JLL, while Strutt & Parker and Ryden acted on behalf of Oaktree and Patrizia Immobilien.
Thursday 9 October 2014
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