Topland to sell £200m of smaller assets

Topland Group is seeking to take advantage of the recovering investment market to sell £200 mln (EUR 239 mln) of smaller assets.

Topland’s director of structured finance Tom Betts said: 'Topland is a long-term investor not a trader and most of these assets will not have come to the market in the last 15 years. That said, we are also opportunistic sellers and this is a great opportunity to tap into the current demand for good covenants and longer term income fuelled by the institutions and equity rich investors. The properties are all at the smaller end of our portfolio but are in an attractive price range which banks can also currently fund.'

Topland Group is one of the largest privately owned international investment groups and has a £4bn UK and European porttfolio.

The 20 UK assets across office, retail and industrial sectors being sold include: an 84,000 sq ft City office building on 51-55 Gresham Street EC2 being marketed for £46.8 mln or an initial yield of 7.5%; an 184,008 sq ft Royal Mail sorting and distribution centre in Plymouth on the market at £14.7 mln reflecting a net initial yield of 7.75%; a 60,803 sq ft Call Centre let to Orange being marketed at £10.8m or an initial yield of 8.25%; and two Budgens and a Sainsbury’s supermarket in East Anglia each priced between £3 mln and £4 mln for a yield of around 5.5%.

Betts added: 'Topland is currently much more focused on larger assets and corporate sale-and-leasebacks both here in the UK and in Europe, where we perceive greater value and a smaller pool of competitor investors.'

Jones Lang LaSalle is advising on Gresham Street and Cushman & Wakefield are advising on the sale of the other mentioned properties.