GLOBAL - The UK’s £32bn (€36.6bn) Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has acquired two City office assets from Land Securities for £48.5m (€54.7m).
One of the assets, at 110 Cannon Street, in May began a major refurbishment scheduled for completion in March 2012.
USS will retain the contractor brought in to manage the refurbishment as part of the deal.
The asset currently yields £2.9m in annual rent from sole tenant Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson.
The selling price was at the upper end of a valuation, in March, of between £25m and £50m.
USS has invested more £1bn in the UK property market over the past two years.
In other news, Hermes Real Estate has acquired two London office assets for £76m (€86m) on behalf on the BT Pension Scheme.
The acquisition comes as part of the £37bn fund’s strategy to redeploy capital away from trophy assets toward those requiring intensive management.
The seller was a subsidiary of Malaysia’s Amcorp Group Berhad. The adjoining assets are located opposite a proposed Crossrail terminal.
Meanwhile, Hatfield Philips International has sold the City’s ‘Leadenhall Triangle’ to Henderson Global Investors after the original mortgagee defaulted.
The firm said it received bids from 11 would-be buyers of between £145m and £183m.
The portfolio, which includes almost 20 assets, was previously valued at just under £140m, with outstanding loans of £172m.
Alternative asset manager the Carlyle Group has sold Gänsemarkt 45, a mixed office-and-retail asset in Hamburg, to Invesco for €63.5m.
Invesco acquired the prime asset for an open-ended real estate fund.
Carlyle Group managing director Wulf Meinel said the sale substantiated the firm’s decision to invest in Hamburg, which he said offered “compelling opportunities” for regional investors.
Invista European Real Estate Trust, a SICAV, has sold a Polish warehouse to a local private equity group for €7m - 2% higher than the asset’s valuation in March.
The sale reflects Invista’s increased focus on core assets. It will use the proceeds to further de-leverage its portfolio as it prepares to divest properties worth €27m.
Finally, USAA Real Estate has sold a mixed-use development in Garland’s Old Town Station, San Antonio, for an undisclosed price.
The ‘new urbanism’ development, which includes 188 residential units and 12,000 square feet of retail and office space, was completed in 2009.
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