Trinistar Liverpool, a controlled affiliate of Starwood Capital Group, has appointed advisors to explore a potential listing for a newly formed single asset company which will own the Capital Building in Liverpool.
The plan is to list the company via an initial public offering on the International Property Securities Exchange (IPSX), in order to transform it into a REIT.
The appointment was made alongside Trinity Investment Management, a minority owner and manager of the company.
The Capital Building occupies a 3.5 acre (14,165 m2) freehold site in the centre of Liverpool’s business district, overlooking the city’s waterfront. The building comprises 425,000 ft2 (40,000 m2) of predominantly office space, a 1,100 space car park and commercial retail units that include a Tesco Metro on the ground floor.
The asset is 82% let with a weighted average unexpired lease term of 22 years to five tenants, including a Government-backed entity and a global insurer.
Federico Bianchi, head of asset management Europe of Starwood Capital, said: 'We have followed the development of IPSX with interest and most recently following the successful listing and subsequent performance of the Mailbox REIT.
'We believe IPSX offers the dual benefits of providing an important new capital markets option for institutional property owners such as ourselves, as well as providing investors with the opportunity to own shares in a single asset company that owns large high quality real estate that are traded daily on a liquid exchange.
'Having undertaken a number of asset management initiatives over the past few years, we believe that the proposed listing on IPSX would allow us to conclude our business plan for the Capital Building while allowing new investors to benefit from the long term secure income streams from tenants, as well as the potential value creation from the asset management initiatives that have either concluded or are ongoing.'
Starwood Capital and Trinity have undertaken a number of significant improvements to the building over the past four years, with close to 150,000 ft2 of office space having been refurbished and a further 15,000 ft2 of new space delivered to a high specification.
A new three-level atrium is currently being created which will provide a number of further amenities including break-out spaces, an arrival reception, social spaces, a café, collaborative workspaces and a modern wellbeing space.
Trinity intends to retain its minority stake in the building and will continue to be engaged as the manager.
