Almost a quarter of the buildings at Stockley Park, Europe’s leading business park, are up for sale by funds.
Five of the 21 buildings at the complex near Heathrow, with a combined value of almost £100m, are set to change hands as the owners look to disinvest from the Thames Valley.
University Superannuation Scheme (USS), Morley, Scottish Widows and Equitable Life are all exposed to the giant park, which has a vacancy rate of over 30%, and are keen to sell some of their holdings.
USS, which owns nine buildings at Stockley, wants to sell the 37,400 sq ft (3,500 sq m)
4 Furzeground Way for £20m, a 7% yield.
The vacant building, which is let to Motorola, is being marketed by Jones Lang LaSalle. USS is expected to bring another of its buildings to the market.
JLL is also marketing Scottish Widows’ 75,000 sq ft (7,000 sq m) 5 The Square, let to Cisco, for close to £30m – a 7% yield.
A senior Thames Valley investment agent said: “There are a lot of parties feeling very exposed to the Thames Valley.”
According to Rogers Chapman, the park has not seen a deal for over 10,000 sq ft (929 sq m) since last April.
There are also fears that BT and EDS will leave the park in the next two years.
Two of the buildings being sold form part of larger portfolio sales.
The 51,000 sq ft (4,750 sq m) 2 Furzeground Way, valued at close to £20m and let to Apple, is part of a £75m portfolio being sold for Morley through DTZ.
The 75,400 sq ft (7,000 sq m) 3 Furzeground Way, valued at £25m, is part of Equitable Life’s £250m-plus portfolio being bought by Hermes and Nick Leslau’s Prestbury Real Estate Limited Partnership.
References: EGi News 16/06/03
