Germany's Patrizia Immobilien has teamed up with London-based Oaktree Capital Management to acquire a 118,000 m2 business park in the UK.
Germany's Patrizia Immobilien has teamed up with London-based Oaktree Capital Management to acquire a 118,000 m2 business park in the UK.
The investment volume for the acquisition of IQ Winnersh comes to £245 mln (€285 mln).
The transaction was undertaken through a new joint venture company, Winnersh Holdings, and represents Patrizia UK’s fourth UK real estate asset purchase with funds or accounts managed by Oaktree in the past four months.
The vendor was UK REIT Segro, which also exchanged contracts with a consortium of private investors for the sale of the Neckermann site in Frankfurt for €46 mln.
IQ Winnersh is a 118,000 m2 park comprising a variety of uses, including office (new-build and second generation), multi-let industrial and warehouse, data centre and retail. The park has been developed over a period of 40 years and benefits from an on-site train station, four-star hotel, conference space and retail amenities, as well as being strategically located at junction 10 of the M4, near Reading, which is one of the main motorways into London and Heathrow Airport.
Patrizia said the park is expected to benefit from Crossrail, a new East to West railway line across London and the suburbs to be completed by 2015.
With a vacancy rate of 9.7%, a weighted average unexpired lease term of 8.3 years, and low average rents, the JV believes there are opportunities to capitalise on the improving occupier sentiment currently being witnessed in the UK through letting up vacant space, re-gearing leases and financing the property soon after acquisition.
The sale also includes four hectares of adjacent development land, thereby providing opportunities to add value over the long term through developing new space to expand the tenant mix.
