Jun 2018
Jun 2018

Maples Teesdale advises Rockspring on the sale of Cambridge Research Park to Royal London for £78 million

Maples Teesdale advised Rockspring Property Investment Managers LLP ("Rockspring"), a PATRIZIA company, on behalf of UK Value 2 LP on the off-market disposal of Cambridge Research Park, part of Cambridge's high growth science and tech market, to Royal London Asset Management, acting for The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited, for circa £78 million. The sale was effected by a transfer of the entire issued share capital of an Isle of Man property holding company.

Rockspring originally acquired the 112 acre site, in partnership with asset manager XLB Property, in 2014 for £21 million, with 80,000 sq ft of existing net lettable space. Since then, Rockspring and XLB have undertaken a significant construction and asset management programme across the site, including the development of an additional 80,000 sq ft of office/laboratory/mid tech space across three buildings, together with 76,000 sq ft of industrial space across a nine unit scheme called Enterprise 5000, which completed in May 2018. Two of the industrial units are already under offer.

The asset management undertaken has added significant value and delivered a circa 45% uplift in the Park's rental tone. Through delivering critical mass on the site Rockspring and XLB have enabled the growth on the park of key R&D tenants as well as introducing a range of new occupiers to the Park. 13.5 acres of consented development land is included in the transaction, offering additional opportunities for Royal London to increase critical mass and create further value.

Kim Sardar, Director at Rockspring, commented:
"This has been a tremendously exciting project for us and a huge amount of work has gone into ensuring that this site successfully delivers on its significant potential. Having received an approach from Royal London, with the majority of the construction completed and a tangible improvement in the Park's income profile having been achieved, we believe that now is the right time to crystallise the value we have created on behalf of our investors, and to hand over to an institutional buyer to take it forward over the longer term.

We would like to thank the Maples Teesdale team for the excellent support they have provided throughout our investment; from our initial corporate purchase and re-financing, through our asset management and development cycle and now on this sale."

The Maples Teesdale team was led by Jon Blackburn, Corporate Partner with property support from partners Katherine Watts and Mark Harryman and with additional construction, finance and planning support from Sam Nichols, Chen Ikeogu and John Bosworth.

Contact
Jon Blackburn, Partner
020 3465 4312
jblackburn@maplesteesdale.co.uk