US REIT finds formula for £130m science park
US REIT BioMed Realty Trust is in talks to buy MEPC’s Granta Park in Cambridge, as revealed by EGi on Tuesday.
The £133m acquisition will be one of the largest single-asset transactions to take place outside London so far this year.
The price reflects a yield of 7.5% and is more than £15m above the next closest bidder for the 472,000 sq ft business and science park.
Current yields for Cambridge science parks are around 8%-8.5%.
The 100-acre park to the south-east of Cambridge is fully let with an annual rent roll of £10.6m with an average unexpired lease of 10 years. It has up to seven acres of development land, which could house 140,000 sq ft.
BioMed beat bids from Blackstone, advised by CBRE, and Rockspring, which was advised by Bidwells.
The San Diego-based real estate firm owns $4.2bn (£2.7bn) of life science-related properties throughout the US, but is virtually unknown in the Cambridge market. It is thought that MEPC will be retained to manage the estate in the short term.
MEPC put Granta Park up for sale in February. It was seeking offers of around £140m.
MEPC, which is advised by Jones Lang LaSalle, declined to comment.
nadia.elgamry@estatesgazette.com
