Farnborough: Frasers completes £175m Business Park acquisition

Farnborough Business Park is a 46.5-hectare freehold development comprising 14 commercial buildings with a total net lettable area of 555,000 sq ft in the Thames Valley.

The deal is structured as a 50:50 joint venture between two Frasers entities, Frasers Property International and Frasers Commercial Trust. The purchase price was arrived at following a valuation from BNP Paribas Real Estate of £175.05m.

Frasers said it would consider redeveloping parts of the business park to increase its lettable area.

Frasers views the development as a defensive asset underpinned by leases with a long WAULT of 8.3 years and a diversified tenant base of 36 tenants, including the likes of Time Inc, Fluor, INC Research UKquisito, Aetna Global Benefits and a unit of Regus.

Designed as an integrated business campus with retail, hotel and other amenities, its occupancy is running at 98.1%, with healthy tenant retention rate of around 89%.

Last September Frasers Property International, a subsidiary of Frasers Centrepoint, confirmed it had entered into sale and purchase agreements with Oaktree Capital Management to acquire a portfolio of four UK business parks for £686m, as well as a separate deal to buy the Maxis business park in Bracknell for £57m subject to certain conditions.

The acquisition comprises 4.9m sq ft of built area across four freehold business park assets, including the 1.5m sq ft Winnersh Triangle in Reading (sold for £365m); Chineham Park, Basingstoke (£142m); Watchmoor Park, Camberley (£42m); and Hillington Park in Glasgow (£137m).

CBRE advised the vendors.

Source: CoStar