UK - Staffordshire local authority pension scheme has acquired a central London asset in an £18m (€20.3m) distressed transaction.

Seller Warner Estate acquired the asset, which has a book value of £19.5m, in 2007 for £21.74m.

The asset yielded £1m in rent in the year to the end of March.

Colliers, which manages the £2.5bn pension scheme's entire real estate portfolio, did not respond to requests to comment before deadline.

The real estate allocation, which makes up7% of the overall portfolio, is entirely invested in the UK.

A spokesman for seller Warner Estate said the deal was unlikely to be its last divestment and that it would use the £17.4m proceeds to reduce its debt.

In May last year, London & Stamford acquired the firm's 50% shareholding in the Radial fund, with a portfolio of 60 logistics assets, for £208.5m.

In addition, the firm is sold off individual assets both from its bank-backed funds and from its wholly owned portfolio.

The spokesman said: "Some of the funds will survive, but they're in a pretty tough position."

In separate news, real estate firm Derwent London attributed above-IPD performance to its focus on mid-market central London and West End office. 

Posting annualised income of £8.5m from lettings for the first half - higher than for the whole of last year - the firm said 76% of its lettings were to occupiers seeking to expand.

The value of its portfolio increased by 5.1% to £2.6bn in the same period.

Topics