14. August 2012 
Print
Print
Active first half for Standard Life's property fund
Standard Life Investments’ Pooled Property Fund has recently closed a series of significant investment and development deals completing an active first half year. A total of £150 million has been committed to acquisitions, sales and refurbishment projects across the Fund’s portfolio of retail, office and industrial properties.
This month, the Fund invested £47.25M acquiring 60 Gresham Street, a 59,000 sq ft Grade A office building in the City of London, which is fully let to nine occupiers including Alliance Trust, Industry Funds Management and Anthologie. It also completed the £7m sale of a parade of shops at Salters Row in Pontefract, Yorkshire. In May, the Fund acquired the freehold interest in a 200,000 sq ft distribution unit on the Suttons Business Park in Reading, which is let to Brake Bros Ltd on a new 25-year lease.
In a strategically significant move, the Fund recently completed a transaction to acquire 100% ownership of the County Mall Shopping Centre in Crawley, West Sussex, where earlier in the year it secured a major letting to leading clothes retailer Primark, for a 50,000 sq ft store on a new 25-year lease.
The Pooled Property Fund has also recently commenced two substantial redevelopment projects in London’s supply constrained West End. In June, work started on the refurbishment of 23 King Street to extend the existing building and create 44,255 sq ft of prime offices in St James’s. This project is due to be completed in June 2013. A further redevelopment project has just started at 5 Welbeck Street.which will deliver 27,300 sq ft of Grade A office space in December this year.
“Our recent activity is in line with our overall strategy of selling smaller non-core property and investing in prime quality assets and opportunities where we can add value through active management” said David Stewart, Fund Manager, Pooled Property Fund, Standard Life Investments.
This month, the Fund invested £47.25M acquiring 60 Gresham Street, a 59,000 sq ft Grade A office building in the City of London, which is fully let to nine occupiers including Alliance Trust, Industry Funds Management and Anthologie. It also completed the £7m sale of a parade of shops at Salters Row in Pontefract, Yorkshire. In May, the Fund acquired the freehold interest in a 200,000 sq ft distribution unit on the Suttons Business Park in Reading, which is let to Brake Bros Ltd on a new 25-year lease.
In a strategically significant move, the Fund recently completed a transaction to acquire 100% ownership of the County Mall Shopping Centre in Crawley, West Sussex, where earlier in the year it secured a major letting to leading clothes retailer Primark, for a 50,000 sq ft store on a new 25-year lease.
The Pooled Property Fund has also recently commenced two substantial redevelopment projects in London’s supply constrained West End. In June, work started on the refurbishment of 23 King Street to extend the existing building and create 44,255 sq ft of prime offices in St James’s. This project is due to be completed in June 2013. A further redevelopment project has just started at 5 Welbeck Street.which will deliver 27,300 sq ft of Grade A office space in December this year.
“Our recent activity is in line with our overall strategy of selling smaller non-core property and investing in prime quality assets and opportunities where we can add value through active management” said David Stewart, Fund Manager, Pooled Property Fund, Standard Life Investments.
