Europa Capital and Ediston Real Estate acquire Buildings 1000, 2000 and 3000, Cathedral Hill, Guildford for a combined purchase price of £54 million, reflecting a net initial yield of 7.63%. Buildings 1000 and 2000 were acquired from M&G in December 2015 for £40 million. The remaining office building at Cathedral Hill, Building 3000, was acquired from AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets, acting on behalf of its clients, in May 2016 for around £15 million.
Cathedral Hill comprises 155,000 sq. feet of offices built in 2001. The three buildings are prominently located adjacent to the A3 dual carriageway. The combined property consists of modern office accommodation with 15,000 to 20,000 sq. feet floorplates. The buildings are multi-let to Avaya, Regus, GCL Solicitors and VI (UK) Limited. The combined property has a range of lease expiries from 2016 to 2021.
James Fortescue, Director at Europa Capital, commented, “This latest purchase of Building 3000 consolidates our ownership of Cathedral Hill and gives us additional asset management opportunities to capitalise upon. We now look forward to creating an even more attractive urban office environment for occupiers.”
Calum Bruce, Director at Ediston Real Estate, added, “This acquisition is the sixteenth property we have acquired within our joint venture vehicles with Europa and continues the strategy of buying well located assets with value add potential. Having control of the three buildings at Cathedral Hill provides us with various interesting strategies to unlock value and deliver good performance to Europa’s investors.”
About Europa Capital
Europa Capital is a real estate fund manager focused on European markets. We add value utilising a variety of strategies implemented through active asset management, change of use or refurbishment and development in all property classes across Europe.
Since 1995, Europa Capital has collectively raised nine real estate funds and committed to over 90 transactions totalling over €9 billion across 19 European countries.
We are a member of Rockefeller Group International (RGI), a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd. RGI is a strategic investor alongside management in Europa Capital’s investment management business.
About Ediston
Ediston Real Estate is a UK property company based in Edinburgh with assets under management in excess of £650 million.
The company focuses on both investment and development, and has a track record of buying sub-standard, well located properties and transforming them into prime institutional quality investments.
Ediston has been actively investing throughout the UK since 2009/2010, through the Ediston Opportunity Fund and with newly raised funds through the Ediston UK Real Estate Trust, launched in 2012.
Further information can be found at www.ediston.com.
For further information, please contact:Gordon Simpson/Elizabeth King, Finsbury PR: +44 20 7251 3801
