Wood’s Aberdeen offices sold

An Aberdeen office building has changed hands for £80 million, making it the largest investment deal this year in the Granite City.

LCN Capital Partners said it had completed the acquisition of Sir Ian Wood House in Altens from HFD Property Group.

It marks the third acquisition in Aberdeen by the New Yorkbased private investment firm and follows the “build-to-suit” acquisition of the Aker Solutions UK Campus in 2018 and the Lloyds Register building in Prime Four in 2017. LCN also has offices in Amsterdam, London and Luxembourg.

HFD Property Group completed the Sir Ian Wood House development in 2016 and this year, in conjunction with LCN, negotiated a new 15-year lease with energy services giant Wood.

Located on Citypark, just south of the city centre, the office building is named after the company’s former chairman and extends to some 216,000 square feet. It is occupied entirely by Wood, accommodating about 2,000 employees.

Edward Lapuma, co-founder of LCN Capital Partners, said: “We have been tracking this deal since the building completed. With more than £6m of rental income per annum for the next 15 years,

Citypark1 will provide our latest fund with secure, longterm income to a strong covenant in Wood.

“We continue to seek high quality sale-leaseback and build-to-suit investments in critical corporate property across the UK and Europe.”

Stephen Lewis, managing director of HFD Property Group, added: “The sale of one of our developments is always a bittersweet moment for HFD. Whilst we’ll exit our ownership of the building, our long-term relationship with Wood continues as an occupier of other accommodation within our portfolio.”

HFD was advised by Avison Young, while LCN was advised by Cushman & Wakefield.