One Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester has been sold by Europa Capital to Legal & General Property’s Managed Property Fund for £75 million, reflecting a net initial yield of 5.64%. Europa Capital acquired the property in September 2011, on behalf of Europa Fund III, in a joint venture with Paul Parkinson.
Comprising a high spec Grade A multi-let office building in the heart of Manchester’s Central Business District, One Piccadilly Gardens was developed by Argent in 2003, providing accommodation over basement, ground and six upper floors. In addition, a self-contained Pavilion building contains two further retail units fronting onto the Gardens.
Currently producing a total annual passing rent of £4,328,092, it has a weighted average unexpired lease term of 6.21 years. The fully let office space has a high quality tenant line up and is home to The Bank of New York, JLL, Manchester City Council, Manchester Evening News and Allianz Cornhill Insurance, while the retail line-up at the property includes Pizza Express, Caffé Nero and Pret A Manger.
The Managed Property Fund was launched in June 1971 and is an open-ended Fund available to occupational pension schemes. Valued at £2,030 million (as at end June 2014), it has outperformed the AREF / IPD UK Quarterly All Balanced Property Funds Index over one, three and five year periods.
Mark Russell, Fund Manager of the Managed Property Fund, comments: “One Piccadilly Gardens complements the existing portfolio as we continue our rotation towards assets capable of delivering growth. As the macro-economy continues to improve, we believe that opportunities to increase rental tone in selective buildings will arise.
“The high profile of the building within central Manchester, the broad and vibrant amenity and excellent transport infrastructure continues to prove attractive to occupiers. Prevailing rents and a development pipeline that is yet to fully respond suggest that the asset is set fair to deliver growth in the short-medium term. Based off affordable rents and offering a number of natural lease events, we will look to undertake asset management initiatives and significantly improve the property’s sustainability credentials.”
Rob Sim, Head of Northern Europe at Europa Capital, said: “We are very pleased with the success of our investment in One Piccadilly Gardens, a high profile and well located asset which we acquired three years ago and over which time we have added value through active asset management. This is Europa’s 7th realisation in Europa Fund III and brings the total value of assets sold to over €2.7 billion. This is ahead of business plan targets and we have further sales in discussion.”
Savills acted for Legal & General Property and Europa Capital represented itself.
Legal & General Property:For further information, please contact:
Olivia GoodallPR Manager, Legal & General Property020 3124 2777
Notes to editors:Legal & General Property (LGP) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), one of Europe’s largest institutional asset managers and a major global investor. LGIM manages approximately £465bn in assets on behalf of over 3,100 clients (30 June 2014) and provides products and solutions spanning all asset classes. LGP is the fourth largest institutional property fund manager in the UK, managing or co-managing 17 separate funds or vehicles including three segregated mandates with an aggregate asset value of £14.2bn as at 30 June 2014. These funds include:
Balanced Fundso Life Fund; Linked Pensions; Linked Life; Managed Fund; Legal & General UK Property Fund; UK Property Income Fund I; UK Property Income Fund II; LPI Income Property Fund and the Hybrid Property Fund
Specialist Pooled Fundso The Leisure Fund Limited Partnership; Industrial Property Investment Fund; Arlington Business Parks Partnership; and the English Cities Fund
Single Asset Vehicleso Bracknell Regeneration Partnership; Central Saint Giles Partnership.LGP’s UK-focused fund management platform has built and retained a strong track record of out-performance. Owing to its size, diversity and penetration, it benefits from best-in-class banking and property contacts which along with its wealth of in-house skill and expertise, have enabled it to continue to attract and secure high quality market opportunities.
Taking a client-centric approach, the business places the highest priority upon integrity and transparency, leveraging the significant resources provided by the wider LGIM platform. Protecting the medium to long term value of its portfolio, as a leader in sustainability, green principles are embedded into every property and investment decision.
Sector specialists cover each sphere of the market and are supported by LGP’s market-leading research capability. In particular, the Company has a major development platform, responsible for delivering community-focused projects ranging from West End landmark buildings to significant town-centre retail and leisure regeneration schemes.
Forming part of the Group’s larger UK housing and infrastructure investment strategy, LGP also continues to participate in a growing range of supply side housing activities, including financing affordable homes, the house building sector, urban regeneration, student accommodation and care homes.
For further information please contact:
Gordon Simpson/Charlotte Whitley/Claire Scicluna (RLM Finsbury: + 44 (0)20 7251 3801)
Since 1995, Europa Capital’s Principals have collectively raised 7 real estate funds and committed to over 80 transactions totalling some €8.0 billion across 18 European countries.
The Europa Funds benefit from Europa Capital’s established network of partners across Europe who co-invest in acquisitions made by the Europa Funds. These country and joint venture partner relationships in some cases extend back more than 20 years.
Further information can be found at www.europacapital.com.
Europa Capital is a member of The Rockefeller Group (“RGI”). RGI is a strategic investor alongside Management. Europa Capital Partners LLP and Europa Capital LLP are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
