On behalf of a pension fund client, LaSalle Investment Management (LaSalle) today announces the acquisition of the Wilton Centre in Middlesbrough. The property is a campus style office and research facility providing 48,538 sq m of offices, laboratories, research, conference and restaurant facilities. Tenant businesses are primarily related to the petrochemicals industry and include ICI, Huntsman, DuPont, Lucite as well as smaller companies and the Centre for Processing Innovation.
LaSalle, advised by Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker, acquired the asset from Threadneedle, advised by GVA Grimley for nearly £20 million.
This is the second such facility that LaSalle as acquired, owning the Kent Science Park.
In June, the Fund acquired its first asset, which comprised three office buildings, Edinburgh House, Key West and Eton View House, in the heart of the Thames Valley for £15 million. The buildings are within close proximity of the M4 and M25, Heathrow Airport and rail links into Central London.
LaSalle, advised by Bidwells and Strutt & Parker, acquired the assets from Hermes and Henderson, advised by King Sturge and Holley Blake respectively.
More recently, the Fund, advised by Singer Vielle, acquired its second asset, the 12-storey Thames Tower building in Reading. The 135,000 square foot, multi-let office building was bought for £26.25 million from Portfolio Holdings, advised by Strutt & Parker.
Andrew Bull, Fund Manager for the Fund said “These acquisitions represent the start of our investment period and follow the Fund’s strategy of acquiring well-located, functional office buildings within selected markets. We will employ asset management initiatives to capture the expected rental recovery in the London and South East office market.”
LaSalle manages £5.6 billion worth of assets in the UK for separate account and commingled fund clients. These two new acquisitions contribute to over £1 billion worth of transactions LaSalle has completed on behalf of these clients in the last 12 months.