UK - Pension fund of the airline British Airways has bought a recently-completed office development in Birmingham city centre, in a bid to help diversify its asset allocation.

A deal has been signed by the £6.5bn (€9.3bn) pension fund to buy the long leasehold of b1, an office building with attached car park on Summer Hill Road, Birmingham, for £23m from Barberry Developments.

The 28,000m2 Grade A property has only recently been completed, having been built on a former industrial site, but is already let to Capita Group, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust and Nestor Healthcare.

Its location is also within a wider redevelopment of the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter, now enjoying a resurgence of real estate interest and retail growth - new supermarkets are being built within its vicinity - and the deal reflects an initial yield of 5.46, according to GBR Property consultants, the real estate broker to Barberry.

Trustees of the BA pension fund manage assets for the closed defined benefit National Airways Pensions Scheme (NAPS) and the British Airways Pension Scheme (APS).

A spokesman for the fund, which was supported by real estate consultant Donaldsons in the process, said the purchase was made as part of its diversification strategy.


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