Cordea Savills, the international property investment manager, has purchased a prime purpose-built office building with ground floor retail units in the centre of Manchester for £16.6 million on behalf of the Bishopsgate Long Term Property Unit Trust (“The Fund”). This latest acquisition brings the total value of completed investments on behalf of the Fund to circa £270 million.

The property is located at 1 Portland Street and covers 59,314 sq ft, of which 85% is office space and the remainder is three ground floor retail units. The asset has a strong tenant line-up, including Tesco, Costa, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Portuguese Republic, the British Transport Police, Hiscox Insurance, Towergate and G4S. The acquisition price reflects a net initial yield of 7.00%. The vendor in the sale was Bruntwood.

 

Patrick Lowther, Portfolio Manager, commented: “We are pleased to have acquired a high quality building in a very prominent location, which should be well placed to benefit as the Manchester market moves back towards growth. The acquisition complements the Fund’s recent office investments in Leeds and Cardiff, where similarly well located and refurbished buildings have been acquired off comparatively low rental profiles.

 

Chris Oglesby, Chief Executive of Bruntwood said: “Bruntwood has grown through buying unloved buildings in need of development and turning them into high quality investments. We are currently experiencing a market where the difference in pricing between prime investments such as No.1 Portland Street and unloved buildings has never been wider. In order to take advantage of these opportunities, the sale of No. 1 Portland Street will help assist our plans for growth and expansion. It will also help rebalance our portfolio of investment and development stock as we look to identify more buildings across the cities in which we operate that will benefit from the Bruntwood model of future-thinking building development and first class customer service.”

 

Steve Carrick, Partner, Knight Frank, commented “Cordea Savills identified Manchester city centre as a key target. We focused on a target list of assets on which to make unsolicited approaches. We are pleased to have been successful in purchasing 1 Portland St. The balance of high quality offices coupled with retail income, fits well within our client’s portfolio”

 

Cordea Savills were represented by Knight Frank. Bruntwood were unrepresented.

 

 

 

Contacts

Citigate Dewe Rogerson

Patrick Evans / Stephen Sheppard / James Madsen / Alice Stewart

 

Tel: +44 (0)20 7282 2966

E: savillsim@citigatedr.co.uk

  • 03 February 2015