A new UK life science real estate investment venture, created by BentallGreenOak and Mission Street has made its first investment.

MSci, the investment venture created in January, has bought two retail warehouse assets in Oxford to redevelop into a research and development hub. According to sources, both sites were acquired from two different sellers for £30m (€35m) in total.

BentallGreenOak said these acquisitions are the first to be made by the new joint venture, which will “seek to grow its platform via ground-up developments and the acquisition and repurposing of existing assets in areas across the UK that are anchored by strong research and development credentials”.

Artem Korolev, founder and managing director of Mission Street, said: “We look forward to curating a vibrant ecosystem in one of the world’s leading research and innovation locations and, beyond this, becoming the partner of choice for the UK’s research and innovation sector, supporting the entire lifecycle from discovery to R&D, to manufacturing.”

Toby Phelps, a managing partner at BentallGreenOak, said: “The growing and dynamic life sciences sector has been a key focus for us over the last 18 months. Leveraging our knowledge and relationships from the US market and our long-standing relationship with Artem and Mission Street has allowed us to identify assets that can provide high-quality space into the supply-constrained market in Oxford.

“We are actively working on other near-term opportunities with the aim of building a substantial portfolio in the key UK science and innovation markets.”

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