Standard Life Investments makes pair of direct buys in Brazil

GLOBAL - Standard Life Investments (SLI) has built up its global fund's exposure to the Brazilian office sector with two direct acquisitions.

The fund manager has bought two office buildings in Brazil's commercial capital São Paulo for its Select Property fund for close to BRL110m (€47.5m).

The fund offers both institutional and retail investors access to global property markets through a mixture of direct investments, interests in non-listed specialist vehicles and listed property holdings.

The acquisitions mean 48% of the £671m portfolio is now invested in directly held assets, and follow the fund's first investment in Brazil in October 2009, when it acquired the Alana II Building, a multi-let office property in São Paulo.

Andrew Jackson, manager of the fund, said: "The Select Property is a rare offering within the investment industry - a hybrid structure offering investors both direct and indirect international exposure.

"These two prime-quality additions mean the portfolio now has approaching 50% in direct exposure to international property markets, thereby cementing the fund's unique positioning within the market."

One of the new investments is in the refurbished Bela Paulista Building, situated at 2421 Avenue Paulista, one of the most prestigious offices addresses within Brazil's commercial capital.

The office tower is nearing completion of a major refurbishment and is 50% let to four international and Brazilian domestic tenants.

It has a total lettable area of more than 6,500 square metres with retail space at ground mezzanine levels and an additional 14 floors of office space above.

The asset was acquired for BRL54.5m, representing a net reversionary yield of 12.1%.

The second purchase was the Madison Building, located at Vila Olimpia, for BRL52m, representing a net reversionary yield of 11.2%.

The building is arranged over six floors with more than 8,000 square metres of lettable space, and is let to four international and Brazilian domestic tenants.

Both buildings were acquired in conjunction with local operator Eccelera.