Curzon jv buys £139.3m UK property portfolio from Prupim

Investment funds controlled by Curzon/AEW Europe and Mountgrange Investment Management said they have purchased a portfolio of 28 UK properties from one of the institutional funds of Prupim, the property arm of British life insurer Prudential, for £139.3 mln (EUR 172.8 mln). The expected net initial yield on the portfolio is 7.5%.

Mountgrange, which acts as both a development and investment company, has been appointed asset manager for the joint venture. The 28 properties acquired are part of an original 40 offered in a portfolio off market earlier this year. Located throughout England, the portfolio is composed roughly of about 60% retail and 40% office properties.

Curzon CEO Ric Lewis said the transaction was its first in the UK 'positioning our investors to take advantage of the dislocation in the real estate markets stemming from the credit crunch'. The Curzon portion of the portfolio was purchased by its European Property Investors Special Opportunities Fund (EPIS), which targets investment opportunities arising from the current dislocation in the UK and continental European property markets. The fund closed to investors in May having raised nearly EUR 800mln in equity.

Manish Chande, a senior partner with Mountgrange, called the properties acquired 'a good combination of secure reversionary income and asset management opportunities'.