Balanced Commercial Property Trust (BCPT) has sold an office building in Crawley to an unnamed investor, as it continues to rebalance its portfolio away from the UK office sector.
The sale price is £26.1 mln (€30.5 mln), representing a 6.1% discount to the December 2023 valuation. The net proceeds will be finalized after calculating rental top-ups at the March 2024 completion date.
The 10,312 m2 Leonardo building, located in the Manor Royal Business District near Gatwick Airport, is currently leased entirely to Virgin Atlantic until 2032.
BCPT has owned the property, the largest within its office portfolio, since 2015.
Richard Kirby, fund manager of BCPT, said: ‘Our investment process has always focused on high-quality real estate with strong fundamentals. The value in this approach is underlined by our ability to execute the disposal of non-core office holdings at resilient pricing. Throughout 2024, we will continue to re-balance our portfolio towards targeted growth sectors with resilient occupier markets, primarily select sub-markets within industrial & logistics and operational alternatives.’
This transaction reduces BCPT's office exposure from 24.4% to 22.2% of its portfolio value. Further targeted disposals are planned and BCPT is currently in talks with potential buyers.
BCPT has already sold off four office properties this year, bringing in a total of £68.8 mln (€80.4 mln), down by an average of 2.6% on their previous valuations.
