L&G and M&G complete more property deals

04 August 2015

Legal & General Property (LGP) has acquired No 1 Colmore Square in Birmingham City centre for £87.3m, according to Propertymall.com.

The property is a long-leasehold multi-let office block located in a prime position. It comprises 202,807 sq ft of grade A office accommodation arranged over 10 floors. Tenants include DTZ and Ernst & Young.

"A well-positioned trophy asset, No 1 Colmore Square offers secure income over the medium term, coupled with good rental growth expectation," said Matt Jarvis, fund manager of the Legal & General UK Property Fund.

Also in Birmingham, last week Legal & General Property bought the freehold interest of the headquarters of bar and restaurant operator Mitchells & Butlers and an associated hotel.

The properties were acquired from LaSalle Investment Management for £69.5m ($108.5m) on behalf of LGP's limited price inflation income property fund (IAR, 28 July 2015).

LGP has also completed property transactions in Cambridge and London. In Cambridge, it bought the Grafton shopping centre for £99m from M&G Real Estate.

LGP has also acquired First Central 200 (FC200) office building in West London for £59.8m. The two properties will be added to LGP's second UK property income fund (PIF).

Charlie Walker, director and fund manager of UK PIF II, said, "Both purchases complement the existing assets in the portfolio and come hot on the heels of the final closing of our second closed-ended UK property income fund, which provides over £610m of firepower."

Meanwhile, M&G Investments has lent £30m via a private placement to Acis Group, a housing association operating across East Midlands and South Yorkshire.

The 30-year deal provides Acis Group with enough flexibility to support the building of up to 400 homes over the next few years in order to meet the growing demand for affordable homes, as well as to refinance existing debt.

Mark Davie, head of social housing, M&G Investments, said, "With 100 affordable homes already in development and a further 300 in the pipeline, Acis continues to provide local people with much needed housing. M&G has now invested over £6bn in UK social housing through property transactions, public bonds and private placements, and we're keen to do more. Our pension fund clients continue to seek cash flows over the long term which are secured against residential property."