Gerald Eve and Ryden - Industrial Sale - Cumbernauld, Scotland

Date: 25 Sep 2008

AG Barr, the UK's leading independent manufacturer of branded carbonated soft drinks, has acquired the heritable interest in an industrial property in Cumbernauld, Scotland, for £2.85m to service the expansion of its business.

The warehouse/production facility at 7 Orchardton Road, on the Westfield Industrial Estate, totals 156,300 sq ft and is just around the corner from AG Barr's 113,000 sq ft head office at Westfield House. It was acquired from Japanese company Tenma (UK) Ltd, which had manufactured television parts at the site for some 25 years.

The sale price for the Lanarkshire site includes 12.6 acres of expansion land, providing AG Barr with ample capacity for its expanding drinks range. As well as IRN-BRU, Orangina and Tizer, this now includes the exotic fruit juices of Groupe Rubicon, which AG Barr acquired last month (August) for £59.8m.

AG Barr was represented in the site acquisition by Gerald Eve, which was appointed in January this year as estate manager for its UK property portfolio; Ryden advised Tenma (UK) Ltd.

Jennifer Addis of Gerald Eve says: "The acquisition of these units so close to AG Barr's head office made perfect strategic sense. As retained advisers to the company, we are fully aware of its ongoing requirements and were therefore able to move quickly to acquire this facility when its imminent availability became known."

Charlie Lawrence, associate at Ryden, comments "While I am disappointed that Scotland has lost a large manufacturer of the quality of Tenma, I am pleased that an indigenous Scottish company has acquired the property. The sale to neighbours AG Barr makes sense and I hope that AG Barr will continue to grow its business from the site."

As well as its new Cumbernauld facility, AG Barr's property portfolio comprises ten other properties across the UK, including Groupe Rubicon's factory in Tredegar, Wales, which it acquired for £1.25m at the time of the corporate deal.

Tenma

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