Abingdon: Patrizia sells business park for £61.5m

Patrizia has sold Abingdon Business Park, a 415,000 sq ft estate in Oxfordshire, for £61.5 million in an off-market transaction.

Patrizia sold the property that contains a mix of office, research-and-development and industrial space on behalf of its UK Value 2 fund to Royal London Mutual Insurance Society.

Patrizia bought the property, then about 60% occupied, in 2015 and implemented a comprehensive asset management programme that included the refurbishment and re-letting of most of the estate. Patrizia said the efforts helped increase occupancy at Abingdon Business Park to more than 90%.

Abingdon Business Park is located on a 50-acre site adjacent the A34 in the core of Oxfordshire's economic and knowledge corridor and just outside of Abingdon town centre.

Duncan White, director of UK fund management at Patrizia, commented: “This off-market sale is ahead of our business plan for Abingdon Business Park and crystallises extremely strong and market-leading returns for our investors, as well as being highly accretive to the overall performance of the Fund. Furthermore, the transaction is further evidence of the continued institutional appetite for UK multi-let commercial real estate in strong regional locations such as this.”

James Orr, senior fund manager and head of industrial at Royal London Asset Management, commented: “Abingdon Business Park is a great acquisition for us and aligns with our investment strategy to acquire best-in-class multi-let commercial estates in locations with strong growth potential. RLAM have completed £360m of industrial purchases over the past 12 months including Kings Norton, Birmingham (£134m), Tower Thurrock, Essex (£56m) and Overton Park, Peterborough (£44m) and we continue to explore new opportunities which fit with our Fund requirements.”

Patrizia was advised in the transaction by JLL and Bidwells acted for Royal London Mutual Insurance Society. XLB also acted as adviser to Patrizia.

Source: CoStar