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Tritax briefs on £125m Brum sale

GVA and SG Commercial have been instructed to sell Royal Bank of Scotland’s Birmingham campus by owner Tritax.

Tritax Brindleyplace Unit Trust, which manages the buildings on behalf of a consortium of private investors, appointed the duo this week to sell the inter-connected buildings 7, 8 and 10 Brindleyplace, which total 301,000 sq ft. Tritax is looking for around £130m – a circa 5.75% yield.

News of a potential sale of the campus broke exclusively in Estates Gazette in May, when it was quietly being offered off-market to big-ticket investors ahead of an impending loan maturity next month.

RBS has a long lease on most of the space but has an upcoming break on one building.

A source said: “Tritax has already had several approaches which it has been unwilling to accept, mainly because there was a large breakage penalty fee via the bank if it sells prior to the loan maturity. I can see a deal completing by the end of this year.”

The asset is not yet officially on the market, but it will be as soon as a brochure is ready.

The trust paid £104m in 2009 for the buildings and has spent circa £5m refurbishing them. The purchase was financed with a £79m loan from Barclays. The facility, which after amortisation now has just under £70m outstanding, expires in November.

A sale would be one of the largest in the city this year, which has seen a number of big-ticket disposals. Just last month, M&G Real Estate confirmed its £140m acquisition of Two Snowhill from fund manager Hines. While during the summer Benson Elliott acquired the neighbouring 108,000 sq ft 11 Brindleyplace for £30m.

Hines and Moorfield own the remaining buildings at the 1.2m sq ft Brindleyplace campus, all of which were developed speculatively by Argent.

All parties were unavailable for comment.

lisa.pilkington@estatesgazette.com

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