Carlyle acquires Salford Quays site for £30m development

Private equity firm the Carlyle Group announced on Friday that it had acquired a 3.4 hectare site in Salford Quays, near Manchester, ahead of a £30mln (EUR 37.6mln) regeneration project. The transaction was carried out in conjunction with its joint venture partner Abstract Carlyle acquires Salford Quays site for £ 30m development

The transaction was carried out in conjunction with its joint venture partner Abstract Nikal. The Manchester office of Cushman & Wakefield acted for the vendor, Colgate.

The site includes offices and significant good quality cleared production and warehouse space as well as approximately 500 parking spaces. It is one of the largest sites available in the key regeneration area of Salford Quays and lies within the area designated
"Media City", which is set to benefit from the relocation of the five BBC departments, between now and 2011.

Commenting on the acquisition, Robert Hodges, managing director of The Carlyle Group, said: 'This acquisition takes advantage of our strong equity base to deliver potential for long-term value through an opportunistic investment approach. We hope to be able to announce more such acquisitions in the UK and Europe in the coming months.'

Mark Glatman, CEO of Abstract added: 'This site is incredibly prominent and well-located. The existing buildings will lend themselves well to the provision of highly competitive short-term accommodation and the site offers huge development potential in the longer term.'

Nick Payne, MD Nikal said: 'This is a hugely significant purchase based upon a strategy of providing one of the largest single office refurbishments in Manchester. The building is unique as it is of modern design and offers floor plates of 8,361 m². Once upgraded, the building will provide highly competitive office accommodation in a market that will seek quality and good value for money.'

This is Carlyle's second development in the Manchester area. It recently completed the acquisition of an office development, Piccadilly Place III, in Manchester City centre and started work on an adjacent building, Piccadilly Place IV, developed by Argent. Carlyle
made the acquisition through the Carlyle Europe Real Estate Partners III, which closed in June 2008 having raised EUR 2.2bn of equity.