PIMCO has sold a UK portfolio that has been caught up in a complex web of distress since the onset of the financial crisis.
Europa Capital and Addington Capital have acquired the Prospect Portfolio for £42m. The portfolio of 28 assets was bought from receivers at Cushman & Wakefield acting on behalf of creditor PIMCO. The yield is above 10%.
The assets were previously owned by individual borrowers. The loans secured against the properties were originally issued by Northern Rock, mostly in 2005 and 2006. They were subsequently sold to Lehman Brothers, which used them as collateral in the midst of the financial crisis to pay debts owed to Germany’s Bundesbank. This debt was then sold to PIMCO in 2012 as part of a wider €238.8m (£187m) loan portfolio known as Portfolio Green.
The portfolio includes 27 properties in England and one in Scotland, of which 14 are in Leeds and Sheffield. Some 43% of the assets by value are in the South of England. The largest is Quadrant Science Park in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
By sector, the portfolio comprises 55% offices, 15% mixed-use space, 15% leisure space, 10% retail and 5% industrial.
Allsop acted for the buyers.
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