Foreign Property News | Posted by Hnin Ei Khin
The Valesco Group, the London headquartered European real estate investment manager, together with AIP Asset Management, the Seoul headquartered asset manager, have exchanged contracts to buy Microsoft’s UK HQ campus in Reading - formerly owned by Mapeley - for a gross purchase price of £100m.
The price represents a net initial yield of circa 6.6%. The investment is backed by a consortium of South Korean institutional investors.
The sale of the Microsoft Campus has been a long time coming. LPA receivers from FI Real Estate Management and investment agents, BNP Paribas Real Estate, were first appointed over the asset five years ago.
BNP Paribas Real Estate was re-mandated in September 2017 to conduct the sale seeking offers in excess of £115m.
The £100m sale price reflects a 15% discount to the asking price.
Interest was expressed by several local and international investors, according to commentary in the Solutus Advisors investor report.
Comprising 246,138 sq ft of grade A office space across three buildings, the property is strategically located in Thames Valley Park which is less than three miles from Reading town centre, the closest of Reading’s three major business parks.
Reading is at the centre of the Thames Valley region and has developed into a European hub for multinational corporates and acts as the UK’s “Silicon Valley” cluster for technology firms including Oracle, Huawei, Nvidia, Symantec and Verizon.
Shiraz Jiwa, CEO of The Valesco Group, said: “This acquisition demonstrates our ability to unlock a complex holding structure by acting quickly and having the capital available to deploy.” Valesco Group is a London headquartered, UK and European specialist real estate investment manager, backed by institutional investors from Asia and the Middle East.
Ref : Property Report
