Maples Teesdale Solicitors – Commercial Property Deals

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	Deals – Commercial Property
	Maples Teesdale acts for US Government on Sale of 20 Grosvenor Square, London

	We are delighted to have been appointed by The United States of America as its legal advisor on the disposal of 20 Grosvenor Square.

	The sale was completed in June and took two weeks from exchange to completion. It is the United States' largest diplomatic property sale to date.

	Mark Bryan and Louise Jones acted for the United States and Peter Paschalis of Howard Kennedy acted for the buyer, Grosvenor Square Limited.

	For more information please contact:

	Roger Thornton Email: rthornton@maplesteesdale.co.uk Direct Line: 020 7421 6410


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•	Imperial House, Windsor	•	Byker - Wilkinson Hardware Stores
•	21-29 Maddox Street, London W1	•	UK Commercial Property Trust Limited
•	Sale of 3 Prime City of London Sites	•	Arcadia House, Southampton
•	CLS Holdings plc - South Bank, London	•	City & West End - Cardiff
•	Frontier Estates - Enfield	•	Bradford & Bingley, Imperial Place
•	IVG Asticus sells 46/47 New Broad Street	•	The Summit Industrial Estate, Sunbury
•	62/63 Threadneedle Street - City of London	•	Logistics Park – Gateway Peterborough
•	P & O Estates - Joint Venture	•	Echo Park, Banbury (Unit 3663)
•	Athanor and the Cubic Property Fund	•	Colmore Court, Birmingham
•	St. Lawrence House, Broad Street, Bristol	•	Grosvenor Business Park, Stockport
•	Nickalls House, Metro Centre, Gateshead	•	Linkway Retail Pk, Cannock, Staffordshire
•	Imperial Place, Borehamwood	•	Westside, Hemel Hempstead
•	Pearl House, Swansea	•	Portman Towers, London W1
•	Pall Mall Court, Manchester	•	Archived Deals

Imperial House, Windsor
St. Congar Properties, Miff Chichester’s new development company, have acquired Intercontinental Hotel Group's 50,000 sq.ft headquarters in Windsor, Berkshire in a joint venture with equity house Europa Capital. They have paid £15m for the 4.5 acre site bought from the Crown Estate. The joint venture plans a large mixed use scheme when IHG relocates later this year. The site has potential for more than 200,000 sq. ft. worth of offices and homes.
back to top>>	February 2008

21-29 Maddox Street, London W1
Norwich Union Life & Pensions Limited instructed us on the lettings of the development at 21- 29 Maddox Street, London W1, with the project being managed for NU by Property Merchant Group. The development was completed during the course of 2007 and the mixed use scheme has been fully let. The residential element within 21 Maddox Street was sold off as a separate freehold unit. The six floors of office space, amounting to over 2,400 sq metres, have been let to Conde Nast, Carillion and Aladdin Capital. There are three units at ground floor level, two of which have been let to art galleries and the third has provided the home for the re-located Hibiscus restaurant. Morley will manage the asset for NU.
back to top>>	December 2007

Sale of 3 Prime City of London Redevelopment Sites
We acted for F & C Property Asset Management on behalf of Friends Provident and Royal & Sun Alliance on the co-ordination of the sales of 3 prime City of London redevelopment sites for over £50 million to an overseas investor. We also advised on the development management agreement between F&C Property Asset Management and the investor. The 3 sites are; 1 Bartholomew Lane, London EC2 which is being redeveloped to provide approximately 76,000 square feet of accommodation available mid 2009. 1 Kings Arms Yard, London EC2 a prime leasehold development site with permission for a new office development providing about 60,000 square feet of office accommodation, 33 King Street, London EC2 which will provide a new office development of about 33,000 square feet.
back to top>>	December 2007

CLS signs new Leases with Capgemini for London Office
The Property investment company CLS Holdings plc has signed new leases with Capgemini UK plc regarding their current accommodation comprising 10,427 square meters of offices at Vauxhall Cross on the South Bank in London.
Capgemini has signed new reversionary leases effective from March 2009 when the current leases expire, until December 2016.
The rent will increase in March 2009 to circa £1.89 million a year from circa £1.74 million per annum.
Maples Teesdale acted for CLS on the lettings and Clyde & Co acted for Capgemini.
back to top>>	December 2007

Frontier Estates - Enfield
Frontier Estates instructed us on their acquisition of the GE Lighting site in Enfield for an undisclosed sum.
The site is a prime freehold 8.1 acre development site with around 375,000 sq. ft. of dilapidated industrial buildings on it. Frontier are planning to redevelop the site as a mixed use scheme to include self storage, hotel, car show rooms, trade and business units. A planning application will be submitted shortly.
back to top>>	November 2007

IVG Asticus sells 46/47 New Broad Street, London EC2
IVG Asticus, one of Europe’s largest property companies, asked us to advise on the sale of City office building, 46/47 New Broad Street, fully occupied by Deutsche Bank, for a price in excess of £15.5m. The building represents a potential redevelopment opportunity in an area which is likely to be affected by Crossrail.
back to top>>	November 2007

Royal & Sun Alliance let refurbished 62/63 Threadneedle Street in City of London
Royal & Sun Alliance, through asset managers F&C Property Asset Management, instructed us on the first letting of their refurbished 62/63 Threadneedle Street office building in the City of London. The recruitment company has taken 4,000 square feet on the 7th floor on a 10 year Lease with a 5 year break at £65 square foot. DMH Stallard acted for the tenant. The building is the city headquarters of Royal Bank of Scotland.
back to top>>	November 2007

P & O Estates - joint venture with Property Merchant Group to redevelop prime West End site
	Maples Teesdale are acting for P & O Estates, in a joint venture with Property Merchant Group, to redevelop three adjoining buildings at the junction of Regent Street and Margaret Street, London W1.
	The buildings occupy a prime West End corner site of around 76,000 sq ft and present an exceptional mixed use redevelopment opportunity of over 100,000 sq ft of offices retail and residential behind a retained Regent Street façade.
The joint venture is preparing a planning application for the proposed redevelopment. The value of the scheme, once redeveloped and let, is likely to be in excess of £175 million.
back to top>>	September 2007

Athanor and the Cubic Property Fund
Maples Teesdale are delighted to have acted for new clients, South African investor Athanor and the Cubic Property Fund, on several recent transactions. Specifically, they have completed the purchase and lease back of five retail warehouses from Wolseley UK Limited. The retail warehouses are at Portsmouth, Witney, Oldham, Newark and Huddersfield.
Also, recently Maples has completed the purchase of a retail park in Taunton. Tenants include Laura Ashley and Bathstore.
back to top>>	August 2007

St. Lawrence House, Broad Street, Bristol and Nickalls House, Metro Centre, Gateshead
Maples Teesdale acted on the purchase of two properties recently for new client, Newbridge Capital.
The freehold interest of St. Lawrence House, Broad Street, Bristol was sold to Newbridge Capital for £8.35 million by a private investment company. The property is a multi-let office building in the centre of Bristol.
The second property is Nickalls House, Metro Centre, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear which Newbridge Capital purchased for £7 million from a UK Property Fund. Again the property is multi-let.
back to top>>	July 2007

Imperial Place, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire

Europa Capital and Property Merchant Group sells Imperial Place, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire to Schroders’ Gresham II

Gresham Real Estate Fund II,L.P., managed by Schroder Real Estate Ventures Group, has acquired the Imperial Place Office Campus in Borehamwood from a joint venture between Europa Fund II, the pan-European fund managed by Europa Capital, and The Property Merchant Group. The purchase price of £47m reflects a capital value of just over £200 per sq ft. The transaction was completed ‘off market’ as the vendors decided to sell after receiving an approach from Schroders.

Imperial Place is located on the edge of the town centre at the western end of Elstree Way which joins the A1 dual carriageway 1 mile to the east. The 4 buildings were constructed between 1992 and 2000 and extend to 225,000 sq ft with approximately 950 car parking spaces (a ratio of 1:250 sq ft). Until 2004 the campus was leased to T-Mobile as it's UK headquarters.

A major refurbishment followed T-Mobile’s vacation and the property was relaunched in September 2005. A number of lettings have subsequently been completed and approximately half of the floor space is now occupied by Signet, Pizza Hut, Groupama Insurance and Bradford and Bingley. Rents range from £16 per sq ft to £19 per sq ft, which was achieved on the latest letting.

There is now 110,000 sq ft available to let on floor plates of between 3,000 sq ft and 17,500 sq ft, with a car parking ratio of 1:250 sq ft.

Noel Manns, Principal of Europa Capital, said “We have been very pleased with the success of the investment we have made in Imperial Place and the quality of occupiers who have taken leases. The offer from Schroders has tempted us to make an opportunistic early sale although there is still value enhancement opportunities in the property.”

Europa Capital and The Property Merchant Group were advised by Maples Teesdale. SJ Berwin acted for Schroders.

Pearl House, Swansea

Maples Teesdale have been acting for Pearl House Swansea Limited since 2004 on the extensive redevelopment of a mixed commercial and residential site in central Swansea. We have dealt with the removal of occupational tenants to obtain vacant possession, and been granting new commercial leases to various tenants. We are setting up a management company, preparing residential leases and obtaining financing from Lloyds TSB Bank plc. The developer is currently on site and has started to sell the residential flats.

Pall Mall Court, Manchester

Maples Teesdale instructed by Resolution Asset Management acted for The London Assurance in granting a new lease of 450 sq/m of office space on the sixth floor of Pall Mall Court in central Manchester to Rapleys LLP at a rent of £101,000 p/a for a term of 10 years.

Byker - Wilkinson Hardware Stores

Maples Teesdale instructed by Aprirose REI acted for Sheppard Investments Limited on the purchase of a newly developed Wilkinson Hardware Stores Limited store in Byker for £1,950,000.

UK Commercial Property Trust Limited

UK Commercial Property Trust Limited, a new, closed ended, Guernsey registered investment company on 20th September 2006 acquired initial property portfolio from Phoenix & London Assurance Limited and Phoenix Life & Pensions Limited for aggregate consideration of £503.6 million.

The properties were externally valued as having a market value of £497.8 million, generating a current net annual rent of £24.4 million

UK Commercial Property Trust Limited will invest in UK Commercial Property, which property will generally be held through its property subsidiary, UK Commercial Property Holdings Limited, the UK CPT Limited Partnership for other property holding subsidiaries.

The initial property portfolio comprised 20 properties forming a diversified portfolio of UK Commercial Properties.

Maples Teesdale acted for the sellers and Dickson Minto and Walker Morris acted for the new company.

	Arcadia House, Southampton
	Resolution Asset Management (as agents for Phoenix Life Limited) have purchased Arcadia House, Southampton for £7.65m. Arcadia House is a substantial purpose built office building overlooking the Marina in Southampton's Ocean Village. It is let to BDO Stoy Hayward.
back to top>>	Maples Teesdale acted for Resolution Asset Management and Phoenix Life Limited.

City & West End, Cardiff
City and West End Properties have completed the sale of 24 Windsor Place, Cardiff
The office building is located in the heart of Cardiff's premier business district. The building was sold to Fred Watkins (Estates) Limited for £2.58 million and is fully let to government tenants. Citifinancial Europe plc and Ultralase Limited
back to top>>

Bradford & Bingley signs up at Imperial Place, Borehamwood

Bradford & Bingley has become the latest high profile tenant to sign up at Imperial Place in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.

The leading UK-based financial services provider joins Signet, Pizza Hut and Groupama Insurance, who already have their headquarters at the four-building office complex, which is owned by The Property Merchant Group and Europa Fund II, a pan-European real estate fund managed by Europa Capital.

Bradford & Bingley has taken 32,256 sq ft (2,996 sq m) in IP4 on a new 16-year lease at a rent of £18.25 per sq ft (£196.44 per sq m).

The deal reflects a recent independent report into suburban office locations, which placed Borehamwood at the top of the league table when compared with 14 other centres within the M25 and M4 markets. The research identified business’ ideal choice of office location using key criteria such as accessibility, property and labour costs, crime rates, housing costs and educational facilities.

Miff Chichester of The Property Merchant Group comments: “We are delighted that Bradford & Bingley has chosen Imperial Place for its new headquarters. The scheme provides great quality accommodation and flexible leasing solutions, which is why one of the UK’s leading financial service providers and FTSE 100 Companies chose us.”

The Summit Industrial Estate, Hanworth Road, Sunbury

O&H Limited have sold The Summit Industrial Estate at Hanworth Road Sunbury to the Merrill Lynch Property Fund. Tenants include Thorn Security and UCS Systems. The Estate, which is approximately 98,000 sq.ft. was sold for £13m.

Logistics Park at Gateway, Peterborough – £140 million

Gateway Partnership LLP, a joint venture between Peterborough based Frenbury Properties and Simons Developments of Lincoln, is to develop Gateway Peterborough, a £140 million warehouse and distribution park, in partnership with Milton (Peterborough) Estate Company on Milton's 119 acre site adjacent to the A1 at Alwalton Hill, Peterborough. A planning application has been lodged. Work should commence on site this year and be completed by 2010 creating approximately 2,500 jobs.

The five buildings at Gateway Peterborough will total 1.817 million square feet and will put Peterborough on the map as a logistics centre.

Echo Park, Banbury (Unit 3663)

ISIS Property Trust 2 Limited, the Guernsey based investment property trust managed by F&C Property Asset Management, have regeared their lease of their 200,000 square feet distribution unit 3663 at Echo Park, Banbury with tenant BFS Group for a further 20 years.

The initial rent is in excess of £1.1 million per annum and the substantial additional capital value created has been shared between ISIS Property Trust 2 Ltd and BFS.

Colmore Court, Birmingham

Phoenix & London Assurance Limited have let part of their new office scheme at Colmore Court, Birmingham to Fuller Peiser at a rent in excess of £250,000 (£26 psf). This is the highest rent achieved for refurbished offices in Central Birmingham.

Grosvenor Business Park, Stockport

Acting for City & West End on the purchase of Units 1/5 Grosvenor Business Park, Stockport. Lawrence Graham acted for the vendor, Legal & General.

The property comprises five industrial units mainly let to Astron, one of Europe’s leading providers of document outsourcing solutions. Grosvenor Business park is part of Bredbury Industrial Estate, one of the largets industrial estates serving the South Manchester conurbation.

Linkway Retail Park, Cannock, Staffordshire

We have just completed the sale of Linkway Retail Park in Cannock, Staffordshire on behalf of F&C Property Asset Management at a price of £21.6 million to investment clients of Arlington Securities. The deal reflected a net initial yield of 4.86 per cent (with outstanding rent reviews) and an equivalent yield of around 5.6 per cent.

The bulky goods retail park comprises approximately 96,097 sq ft (8,927 sq m) of retail warehousing and 424 car parking spaces. It commands an annual rent of just over £1.1 million with outstanding reviews providing an immediate reversion.

Set out as a terrace of five units, the park accommodates DFS, Currys, Focus Do It All, Klaussner and Halfords. In addition there are two stand-alone fast food restaurants at the entrance to the park, let to Pizza Hut and McDonalds. The retail units are let on leases expiring in 2013, 2014 and 2019.

George Cotton, Head of Out of Town Retail at F&C Property, says; “The park generated a high level of interest and we are very pleased with the sale price achieved. The decision to sell is in response to the requirement to realise profit for the fund, which we were able to achieve very effectively as a result of the keen market in the out of town retail sector.”

Westside, Hemel Hempstead

We have just completed the sale of offices at Westside, Hemel Hempstead on behalf of F&C Property Asset Management (then called ISIS Property Asset Management) at a price of £45.9 million to a private buyer.