Scottish Metropolitan is selling the freehold of Clarendon House – a 2,787 sq m (30,000 sq ft) mixed-use building in Solihull, south Birmingham – to Lend Lease for £7.35m, reflecting a net initial yield of some 7%.
The off-market deal, which has just been agreed between Scot Met and Lend Lease Solihull Ltd, means that the vendor is making a surplus of £1.25m over the current book value of the property.
“This deal means that we are coming to the end of the disposal programme for our holdings in the South and Midlands,” Scott Cairns, managing director of Scot Met, told EGi. “There is nothing else currently identified for sale, but we are in the latter stages of our disposal programme.”
Earlier this year, Scot Met said it was focusing its acquisition programme on Scotland and the North and that it was prepared to sell its holdings in the South. Its most recent major purchase was the Waverley shopping centre, Edinburgh.
Cairns added that the sale will complete on August 21, with the surplus being accounted for by Scottish Metropolitan in its results for the financial year ending August 15. The proceeds realised will be invested over the coming months.
Occupiers in Clarendon House include: the Secretary of State for Health, Holland & Barrett, Going Places, Bradford & Bingley and Spec Savers. It has a current net income of £0.52m pa.
Both Scot Met and Lend Lease are unrepresented.
EGi News 18/08/98
