Member Article

Aston Property Ventures completes Glasgow deal

Manchester-based Aston Property Ventures has completed a £3 million deal with the acquisition of Scott House in Greenock near Glasgow.

The 31,000-plus sq ft property has been acquired on behalf of a specialist investment fund, Castel Commercial Property Fund, which invests across the whole spectrum of commercial properties and off-plan development opportunities.

The contemporary three-story office building has recently been fully refurbished and is fully let to Scottish Enterprise on a lease secured until 2019.

The property – which is occupied by Cigna Healthcare as its European headquarters and call centre – was purchased from Ostrich Limited (Kennedy Wilson).

Richard Bousfield of Aston Property Ventures, said: “The off-market acquisition of this modern office building shows that we are able to secure very high-yielding property assets for our client, the Castel Commercial Property Fund.

“We will asset manage the property to deliver very attractive risk-adjusted returns.”

The commercial property offers an income yield of more than 16% on equity invested and is expected to generate over 20% initial rate of return over the hold period.

John Greenwood, CEO at Creechurch Capital and master distributor for the Castel Commercial Property Fund, said: “We were quick to identify the value in commercial property in the provinces and have purposefully sought out smaller deals and developments to ensure the right level of liquidity within the fund and the best possible returns for our investors.”

JLL advised the purchaser and DWF LLP provided legal advice. Knight Frank acted for the vendors.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .