Northwood Investors has invested £635m (€799m) in a UK platform and portfolio of regional UK industrial and office properties.

The US investor bought Highcross Strategic Advisers Limited (HSAL) and will merge the platform with its existing European platform.

The 7.1m sqft Highcross portfolio was previously owned by property funds managed by HSAL.

The portfolio includes the 35-asset UK Land Estates portfolio, held in a 50:50 joint venture with UK Land Estates.

Leeds office and retail scheme Broad Gate, a 300,000 sqft development, and Lakeside North Harbour in Portsmouth are also part of the portfolio.

Khaled Kudsi, Northwood senior managing director, said the portfolio gave the company “critical mass in the regional UK markets, with a difficult-to-replicate countrywide presence and a platform we can scale with additional acquisitions over time”.

Northwood, which invests on behalf of private and institutional investors, will retain Highcross’s offices in Newbury, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow, with HSAL directors Mike Megan, Helen Wright and Keith Woods leading Northwood’s regional operations with Northwood managing director Jerome Anselme.

Northwood chief executive John Kukral said the company continued to see “rapidly improving regional UK fundamentals, supported by rising rental rates, declining tenant incentives and decreasing vacancy, which combine to create a compelling entry point”.

Northwood has done deals in Paris and Spain, buying the Diagonal Mar asset in Barcelona for an undisclosed amount in May this year.

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