GLOBAL - Rockspring will channel close to £4m (€4.8m) raised from the sale of a 55-unit Glasgow industrial estate from its £469.3m Hanover Property Unit Trust into value-added assets in the UK.
The sale, to a private investor, carries a yield of 11% and reflects the investment management firm's decision to shift its exposure towards the southeast.
In other news, UK-based Bank of London and the Middle East (BLME) has acquired a third logistics asset in northwest England for a fund aimed at Middle East investors looking to diversify outside London prime.
The Light Industrial Building Fund, which the bank expects to yield 8% when it closes later this year, should provide a "resilient and steady income stream", the bank said.
Berlin-based investment manager BEOS has acquired four business properties in disparate domestic locations for just under €45m from a consortium of unnamed overseas investors.
The firm plans to invest a further €15.6m in developing the assets, which include warehouse, production and research assets, as well as office.
Student accommodation investor the UNITE group will pay £6.2m in cash for the remaining 49% of UNITE Student Village.
The Village, a joint venture set up in 2004 between UNITE and Lehman Brothers subsidiary Parkmetro, is 99% let. UNITE said the deal would help simplify its balance sheet.
Elsewhere in the UK, Land Securities has sold a government-tenanted central London asset to Tishman Speyer for £171m.
The UK property firm said Eland House did not form part of its adjacent Victoria Circle scheme. The lease on the asset expires in 2021, with a break option in 2016.
Standard Life Investments has acquired a Tesco supermarket in army town Colchester for its £291.9m UK Property Fund.
The £13.1m sale-and-leaseback deal comes just weeks after the supermarket chain said it was freezing its superstore building programme following disappointing results.
Meanwhile, real estate fund manager Ærium and Terrace Hill have gained planning permission for a Mayfair office development they acquired in a joint venture last January from Prupim.
The partners plan to convert two 1960s blocks into a single grade-A office and residential scheme by the summer of 2013 to exploit undersupply of West End office and anticipated demand from retailers and businesses.
Lastly, the RMB Westport fund - focused on commercial and retail property developments in Nigeria, Ghana and Angola - had its first 'hard' close in December, following Rand Merchant Bank's $50m (€38.4m) commitment in March 2011.
The closing included a cornerstone Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund, which committed $50m, a US foundation and a US institutional investor, as well further commitments from South African investors, bringing the total committed to $75m.
The total committed capital raised for the fund to date is $125m. The fund is targeting a further investment of $125m by 31 March 2012, which will be the final close, with a "number of prospective investors going through the due diligence process currently".
