Benson Elliot, the London-based private equity real estate fund manager, has invested close to 拢100 mln in several regional towns in recent weeks, as part of a planned 拢1 bn (鈧�1.2 bn) acquisition spree in the UK.
Benson Elliot, the London-based private equity real estate fund manager, has invested close to 拢100 mln in several regional towns in recent weeks, as part of a planned 拢1 bn (鈧�1.2 bn) acquisition spree in the UK.
Benson Elliott has just acquired 55 Princess Street, a Grade A office building in prime central Manchester, in an off-market deal with LNC Property.
The property was constructed in 2008 and provides 51,700 sq ft (4,800 m2) of office space and 4,100 sq ft of ground floor retail space. It is currently 36% let.
The deal takes the value of the company's UK regional investment and development programme to close to 拢1 bn. Over the summer, Benson Elliott bought the Cambourne business park in Cambridge from Aviva Investors as well as the Fishergate shopping centre in Preston from Deloitte, as administrative receiver for Lloyds Banking Group.
Benson Elliot's regional portfolio also includes the Station Hill redevelopment in Reading, acquired in
2010 in joint venture with Stanhope. Designs have been submitted for a five acre mixed-use scheme,
which is due to be decided by Reading Borough Council later in the year. If council approval is
secured, construction of the first phase of the project is expected to commence in 2014.
'I鈥檝e been interested to see the accelerating interest in UK regional investment these past few months,' said Marc Mogull, founder and managing partner of Benson Elliot. 'We set ourselves a quiet target of 拢1 bn a few years ago, having taken the view that the spread between prime London yields and the best of the rest was getting too wide to be justified by fundamentals. People sometimes forget how little new stock has been delivered outside London over the past few years.'
The company has picked up almost a dozen transactions since then, he added. 'Opportunities are still out there, but recent transactions show how competitive it鈥檚 becoming.' Mogul added.
Benson Elliot Capital Management is an independent private equity real estate fund manager with 鈧�850 mln of equity under management. The firm has a pan-European investment platform and has transacted in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Central Europe and Scandinavia.
