“Aggressive” Royal Bank of Scotland pays £70m and share of profits for Hill of Rubislaw complex
Edward Simpkins
The Royal Bank of Scotland has bought out the Hill of Rubislaw office complex in Aberdeen for close to £70m.
The deal is understood to give the Canadian-based vendor a £50m profit and the option to share in future development profits when the remaining phases are fully let. The vendors are thought to be Ed Sonshine and Jack Bistricer, New Yorkers trading from Canada as Jade C Properties. The Aberdeen complex was owned by a number of holding companies.
The 8ha (20 acre) site already has 29,728m2 (320,000 sq ft) of office space as well as planning permission for a further 7,432m2 (80,000 sq ft), half of which is close to being prelet. The end value of the site is put at £85m.
RBS had provided finance on earlier phases of the scheme and is believed to have been approached over refinancing but decided to try and buy it outright. One Scottish east coast investment agent said: “The RBS is very aggressive at the moment in putting its own money into property investment. It is basically becoming an active investor and developer.”
Barbara Turnbull of RBS said: “We have recently bought three companies that have Hill of Rubislaw in their names.”
The three main office blocks on the site are occupied by oil companies Conoco, Marathon and Shell, along with Andersen Consulting. A final phase of 7,432m2 (80,000 sq ft), to be called Hamilton House, is believed to have been 45% prelet to Chevron at close to £215 per m2 (£20 per sq ft).
