AEP Investment Management (AEPim), a Singapore-based fund management firm, has acquired the Trident Place development located within Hatfield Business Park in the UK from Goodman for over £130 mln (€163 mln).

AEP Investment Management (AEPim), a Singapore-based fund management firm, has acquired the Trident Place development located within Hatfield Business Park in the UK from Goodman for over £130 mln (€163 mln).

AEPim, which was advised on the deal by DTZ, said it has been hunting for quality income-based investments in the UK.

'Trident Place represents an investment with good real estate fundamentals and backed by strong covenants,' commented John Mundy, senior principal of AEPim in the UK. 'We like the quality of the real estate and lease covenants, and the property fits into our larger objective of building a portfolio of income-generating real estate assets in the UK and potentially across Continental Europe.'

Trident Place comprises six self-contained, Grade A office blocks totalling 472,000 sq ft (44,000 m2) of lettable space.

Strutt and Parker acted for Goodman.

Goodman secured planning consent in 2000 for Hatfield Business Park. The mixed-use site hosts the headquarters of Everything Everywhere, the largest mobile operator in the UK, and is also home to a number of leading businesses including Tesco, Pitney Bowes and Cardtronics. Other major business park occupiers include DHL, Ocado ,Eisai and the University of Hertfordshire.

'International buyers continue to be highly diverse with investors from North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia targeting the UK market,' commented Jason Winfield, head of UK investment at DTZ. 'Of these investors, Asian investors are the most active currently with new buyers from China and Taiwan, alongside the now established purchasers from Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Malaysia and Japan.'

The acquisition of Trident Place is not the first UK investment by AEPim. Two years ago, AEPim through its Securus Data Property Fund, a joint venture with Singapore’s Keppel Data Centre Investment Management, acquired the GV7 data centre located at Greenwich View Place in Canary Wharf.

Over the last 18 months the Securus Fund has invested in two other data centre assets in Europe – one in Dublin and another in Amsterdam, and the fund is now fully invested.

AEPim is led by its CEO and managing partner, Yusof Wahid, who is based in Singapore. AEP Capital is a unit of the Al Rajhi family office based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and provides the sponsorship capital for AEPim in the development and execution of its investment mandates.