UK-based investment bank Investec has completed the disposal of three office assets for a combined sum of £100 mln (€112 mln) to investors including Credit Suisse and Catalyst Capital.
The original equity investments, a mix of development and investment, were made by Investec Property, which was integrated into the structured property finance business in June of last year.
Investec said it had successfully executed on each asset's individual business plan and realised a total consideration of £101 mln through disposals, alongside its JV partners.
The sales include Panther House, an office scheme with consent for a refurbishment on Gray’s Inn Road, London, acquired in a joint venture with Argo and Dukelease and sold in June 2020 for £36 mln. Investec also provided a £17 mln investment loan to the JV. The buyer was Credit Suisse which said it intended to develop a mixed-use scheme on site.
Investec said it had also sold Imperial Park in Newport during March 2020 for £15 mln to an unnamed vendor, and Kings House, Hammersmith, developed in a joint venture with Kier and sold in September 2019 for £50 mln, to Catalyst Capital.
Kai Chu, investment specialist at Investec, commented: 'We’re pleased to have completed these transactions with our partners and continue to look for opportunities to support them however we can.
'This is not about multiple one-off deals with different counterparties. Rather a continuation of our ethos of being a client-focused lender, working with aligned partners we can do repeat business with, which is more important than ever in the current environment.'
Investec director Will Scoular added: 'Despite the challenges presented by Covid-19, appetite for our funding solutions has remained resilient and during lockdown we have continued to close new loans across a number of different sectors including residential investment and development as well as commercial office.
'There is a clear opportunity for flexible, disciplined and highly experienced lenders like ourselves to meet the demand we are seeing from both new and longstanding clients.'
Investec said finance provided during the pandemic included a £12.5 mln loan for the acquisition of a build-to-rent asset in Clapham and a £17.5 mln development loan for a purpose-built student accommodation scheme in Bloomsbury.
