Sackville Properties PLC - Offices Sale - UK Office Portfolio

Date: 05 Nov 2002

£130M UK PORTFOLIO ACQUISITION at 7.5%

Sackville Properties PLC, in which Chairman John Madejski OBE DL has a majority holding, has acquired a £130 million UK property portfolio from a private overseas investor; the yield is in the region of 7.5%.

A wholly owned subsidiary, Sackville Property Holdings Limited was formed for the portfolio purchase with the backing of a non-recourse finance package from Lloyds TSB Bank PLC.

The latest acquisition of 18 mainly office properties located throughout the UK includes the 12,542 sq m (135,000 sq ft) Chesser House, Edinburgh where the tenant is Edinburgh City Council; Telephone House, 10,219 sq m (110,000 sq ft) in Sheffield (BT); and T-Mobile’s 5,760 sq m (62,000 sq ft) new Call Centre in Merthyr Tydfil. Other properties are tenanted by Government Departments, leading Banks and Insurance Companies.

Launched in March 2001, Sackville Properties PLC also runs a separate £50 million investment vehicle, with funding from Halifax Bank of Scotland, for industrial and office investments that offer development potential. The company also owns a 10-acre industrial estate in Hemel Hempstead and a 14-acre 11,148 sq m (120,000 sq ft) business park in Milton Keynes. Sackville has also recently completed a new £6 million warehouse development in Letchworth.
Chairman John Madejski comments:
"The successes of our first 18-months added to the acquisition of this excellent portfolio, which has strong covenants and some trophy buildings, places Sackville in an extremely robust position to face these uncertain times. We are actively seeking new development opportunities to broaden our interests even further".

Sackville’s Executive Directors are Michael Bracken, John Hickie, and Jon Homan. Apart from his position as Chairman of Sackville, John Madejski is Chairman of Reading Football Club. He has interests in printing and publishing in the UK and in the Far East - he founded Auto Trader – and also has investments in broadcasting and in hotels, including the Royal Palm Hotel in the Galapagos. The other non-executive Directors are Nigel Howe (Chief Executive of Reading FC) and Ian Wood-Smith, a partner in the Reading–based legal practice of Field Seymour Parkes.

Sackville were advised by: Bushe Gower Associates, Investment Surveyors, Wragge & Co, Solicitors and BDO Stoy Hayward, Accountants.

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