UK Commercial Property Trust, a London listed investment company advised by Standard Life Investments, has completed the sale of the Dolphin House office scheme in Sunbury-on-Thames and of 6 Arlington Street in London.
The sales were completed in two separate transactions for a total investment of £45.6 mln (€56 mln), which together represent an aggregate 14% premium to 31 March 2016 market value.
Dolphin House, which comprises 40,000 sq ft (3,700 m2) of office space, has been sold to an unnamed UK residential development company. UKCPT bought the asset in 2006 and deployed a number of asset management initiatives achieving a planning consent for residential development through the use of a permitted development right.
In a separate transaction, the company sold 6 Arlington Street, an 18,000 sq ft freehold property opposite The Ritz, to a private purchaser. The asset contains a high end art gallery on the ground floor, offices on the first to fourth floors, and residential apartments on the fifth floor.
Since first acquiring the property in 2006, UKCPT has overseen a range of value-add initiatives to improve income, as well as obtaining planning permission to convert the site into residential use.
Will Fulton, fund manager of UKCPT commented: 'Having successfully implemented a series of asset management initiatives at both properties, the Company took the decision to sell earlier in the year in order to maximise the capital return in this phase of both assets’ economic cycle, and to create value for UKCPT shareholders.'
