Singaporean developer Metro Holdings has expanded its investment into the UK regions, buying into a £40m speculative office scheme in Sheffield.
Metro is developing its relationship with Kevin McCabe’s Scarborough Group International to fund the second phase of the Sheffield Digital Campus.
It is the latest example of Far Eastern capital moving into the UK’s regional real estate market. Over the course of this cycle these investors have become more adventurous as their knowledge of the market has strengthened and London prices have risen.
The development and investment group, which is listed on the main board of the Singaporean stock exchange, will take a 50% stake in the project as well as provide an initial three-year development loan to build the 131,226 sq ft scheme.
Metro’s funding will finance the construction of Acero Works, a 80,326 sq ft speculatively built office building that is expected to complete in July 2017. It has also bought an interest in Vidrio, which will comprise a further 50,900 sq ft over eight floors and is as yet undeveloped.
The first phase of Sheffield Digital Campus comprises 130,000 sq ft across two buildings that were developed in partnership with the Homes and Communities Agency at the height of the recession in 2010 and are not part of the deal with Metro. It is now occupied by tenants including Sky, Sheffield City Council and Michael Page.
Metro has already invested or committed to invest more than £50m into Scarborough projects, including Milliners Wharf in New Islington, an eight-storey residential tower; and Middlewood Locks, a major mixed-use scheme that aims to deliver up to 2,000 homes, both in Greater Manchester.
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