Aviva is looking to offload more than £400m of secondary property in one of the largest regional sell-offs since the onset of the downturn.
Aviva Commercial Finance has gained control of a vast swathe of properties after liquidating a number of distressed loans in a highly secretive process codenamed Project Moon.
It has appointed Jones Lang LaSalle to advise on the sale and has approached only a handful of bidders with the portfolio, which contains around 150 assets in all sectors and regions across the country.
It is understood a very swift process is being run, which one source likened to a non-performing loan sale disposal. The target parties on the pre-approved list were shown scant initial details, including just the £400m sale price and vendor.
To get any further information about the properties and a yield for the disposal potential, bidders had to sign a non-?disclosure agreement.
Aviva, through its division formerly known as Norwich Union, was behind one of the largest sales of the downturn after it put three Dawnay Day companies into administration with more than £600m of debt in 2008.
The £550m Dawnay Day portfolio was subsequently sold to a joint venture between F&C Reit and Apollo Real Estate Managers.
However, it is the first time recently that a lender has amassed a portfolio of properties from different owners secured by different debt facilities on such a large scale.
The only comparisons are the much smaller Lloyds Banking Group’s £45m Project Flagstaff sale of 38 distressed properties in 2011, which Jones Lang LaSalle also advised on. The properties were bought by Telereal Trillium.
Last month, Royal Bank of Scotland’s £3.7bn internal property company, West Register, came to the market with a £65m secondary portfolio, again through Jones Lang LaSalle.
The Sapphire portfolio ?comprises 28 single-let industrial assets distributed throughout UK regions. It is now under offer to a private equity firm for £64.5m, reflecting a yield of around 9%.
All parties declined to comment.
• A US opportunity fund, understood to be Patron Capital Advisers, is under offer to buy the £80m Tiger Portfolio, which was being sold from the Glanmore Property Fund at a 12% yield. The firm has offered over the asking price to beat competition from more than 10 bidders. CBRE is advising.
bridget.o’connell@estatesgazette.com
