Evans Randall has acquired the newly completed Drapers Gardens development in the City of London for £242.5 mln (EUR 296 mln). The vendor is a joint venture including Canary Wharf Group and a subsidiary of the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds.
Evans Randall has acquired the newly completed Drapers Gardens development in the City of London for £242.5 mln (EUR 296 mln). The vendor is a joint venture including Canary Wharf Group and a subsidiary of the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds.
The prime 27,000-m2 development is let in its entirety to BlackRock Investment Management (UK) on a 25-year lease, with five-yearly reviews, at a gross annual rent of £13.5 mln. The purchase price reflects an initial yield of 5.2% but excludes a deduction for rent-free periods.
Eurohypo Bank is providing debt for the acquisition. CB Richard Ellis represented Evans Randall.
Evans Randall is a privately-owned investment banking and private equity group specialising in structured finance, private equity and commercial real estate transactions. Since its formation in September 2005, the UK-based company has acquired around £5 bn of UK and European property investments on behalf of itself and co-investors.
Commenting on the latest deal, Michael Evans, chairman of Evans Randall, said: 'Drapers Gardens offers good long-term investment prospects, given the length of lease and the quality of both tenant and building. It sits well within our portfolio of trophy City properties and is part of an ongoing strategy of prime real estate acquisitions in London and major Continental cities. The lease benefits from a minimum uplift of 2.5% per annum for each of the first five years and a maximum uplift of 4.5% per annum. It is this certainty of rental growth that makes it particularly attractive to us'.
