Acquisition
Published: 29/11/2005, 09:07
Warner Estate Holdings PLC 29 November 2005 Warner Estate Holdings PLC WARNER ESTATE BUYS PRINCIPAL PORTFOLIO FROM CIS FOR £159 MILLION Warner Estate Holdings PLC ("Warner Estate"), the property investment company, has today, announced the purchase of the Principal Portfolio from the Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS) for £159 million. The portfolio comprises seven regional office investments throughout the UK, The Royals Shopping Centre in Southend and seven smaller office properties totalling £172 million, together with 105 leasehold liability properties accounting for £13 million. The seven regional office investments are being purchased by Warner Estate and Morley Fund Management's ("Morley") newly created Apia Regional Office Fund (" Apia"). Apia, a specialist property fund, was established in June this year to invest in large office properties in major regional towns throughout the UK. Warner Estate is responsible for property asset management and Morley is responsible for the fund management and regulatory issues. The seven regional office investments are in Aberdeen, Brighton, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Preston The Royals Shopping Centre in Southend comprises 24,755 sq m (266,470 sq ft) and key retailers include Tesco, Littlewoods, TK Maxx, Debenhams and Boots. The shopping centre and other properties will be held in Warner Estate's wholly owned Core portfolio. Michael Stevens, Operations Director at Warner Estate commented: "The acquisitions are a significant first step in expanding the £261 million Apia Fund towards our stated goal of £750 million under management by 2008. The purchase of The Royals Shopping Centre also follows our strategy of rebalancing the retail weighting in our Core portfolio. There are also substantial opportunities throughout the Principal Portfolio to enhance returns through active asset management." Stephan Pater, Chief Operating Officer for CIS, commented: "This sale has provided a number of positive benefits for our business. As part of our comprehensive modernisation programme it helps us realise our improved customer service model which focuses on teams of local financial advisers backed up by modern, centralised customer contact and support centres. "At the same time we have used this opportunity to release a number of investment properties, in support of our planned re-balancing of the CIS property portfolio, which Axa REIM manage on our behalf." Sian Humphrey, Fund Manager for Apia at Morley Fund Management commented: "The Apia Fund was only launched in June so this acquisition is a great step towards achieving our goal of growing the Fund. The portfolio we have acquired is in line with the Fund's investment focus and on completion we will own 20 offices bringing the total assets to £380m. The Fund offers investors the opportunity of a diversified exposure to regional offices through an actively managed portfolio of properties in major regional centres." - ends - Date: 29th November 2005 Warner Estate Holdings PLC City Profile Philip Warner, Chairman Simon Courtenay Richard Moore, Property Director Tel: 020-7488-3244 Peter Collins, Finance Director Michael Stevens, Operations Director Tel: 020-7907-5100 Web: www.warnerestate.co.uk Morley Fund Management Sian Humphrey, Fund Manager Tel: 020-7809 8076 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange