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.