Sterling Property Ventures (Sterling) has acquired a mixed portfolio of seven commercial property assets from BlackRock – through its Real Estate business – acting on behalf of British Airways Pensions Trustees Limited, in a £236 million deal.
All properties in the portfolio, which includes a shopping centre, retail and logistics warehousing, offices, a hotel and food and beverage space, are in the English regions. They are freehold or held on long leases and boast a combined income in excess of £18.5 million.
The acquisition is Sterling’s second since it set up its asset management and investment arm last autumn. The business acquired Mitchells & Butlers’ Birmingham headquarters from Legal & General earlier this year, in a £46m deal.
Sterling’s team has delivered more than 10 million sq ft of commercial real estate, including Birmingham’s award-winning office development 103 Colmore Row. The firm appointed new shareholders Adam Crickmore and Neil Ridley to its board last year to expand its asset management and investment business.
James Howarth, Sterling’s Managing Director, said: “Our plan is to have a minimum of £1billion of assets under management. Acquiring a property portfolio from British Airways Pensions is a significant stepping stone towards that target. We are seeking high quality assets, ideally with the opportunity to add value, allowing us to bring our skills to bear. As this latest purchase demonstrates, we are sector agnostic.”
The seven new assets will be held in Sterling’s SPV Endeavour Ltd vehicle, which is backed by equity investor LetterOne.
Fund manager BlackRock, through its Real Estate business, led the deal on behalf of British Airways Pension Trustees Limited, with joint agents ACRE Capital, Morgan Williams and Capital Real Estate Partners handling the sale.
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