Landmark building City Point gains new owners in £26m deal
ONE OF Yorkshire’s best known office buildings has gained new owners.
RDI, the FTSE 250 income focused UK-REIT, yesterday announced that it has exchanged contracts for the disposal of City Point in Leeds for £26.05m.
The 5,699 sq m (61,379 sq ft) office was originally acquired as part of the company’s AUK Portfolio acquisition in March 2016 for an acquisition price of £21.6m, with over 17 per cent vacancy.
In January 2017, RDI let 1,022 sq m (11,000 sq ft) to Blacks Solicitors, bringing the building to full occupancy.
The property, which has been acquired by West Midlands Pension Fund, delivers total gross annualised rental income of £1.6m.
In a statement, RDI said: “The disposal is in line with RDI’s stated strategy of recycling capital out of mature assets and into new growth opportunities.
“Further details on the company’s progress against strategic priorities will be provided in its interim results which will be announced on Wednesday, April 25.”
Mike Watters, the company’s chief executive, commented: “The disposal of City Point, Leeds represents yet another example of delivering value from the AUK acquisition.
“After two years of owning this asset, we have delivered an excellent 20.6 per cent premium to the acquisition price, whilst also de-risking the portfolio by reducing our exposure to a maturing regional office investment market and an asset with a number of upcoming lease breaks and expiries.
“We are confident that the progress on our active recycling will support our relentless focus to deliver superior, sustainable and growing distributions.”