Kuwait’s Global Investment House, a regional asset management and investment banking firm with offices across the Meja region, has bought two Grade-A commercial offices in north-west England.
The properties are in the Greater Manchester area and will be let to the UK government and Sky, on full repair and insurance leases that are subject to upward only rent reviews.
“The acquisition provides Global investors a Sharia-compliant structure enjoying a stabilised income stream with strong rental growth prospects and expected annualised cash dividends of 9 per cent,” the firm said.
The first property at 6 Knowsley Place in Bury, a suburb near to the city of Manchester, was built in 2011 and covers 14,403 square feet over five floors.
Bury has recently benefited from major regeneration projects including Knowsley Place as well as The Rock (a new open shopping centre) and Dumers Lane (27 acre industrial and residential project to the south of the town centre). Average journey times to Manchester city centre are under 30 minutes
The second property, Saint Peter’s square, is situated in the centre of Stockport, an affluent town 8 miles south-east of Manchester.
The six storey building is let entirely to SKY with a weighted average unexpired lease term in excess of 8 years.
Stockport is one of the largest greater Manchester sub-regional centres, with a vibrant diverse economy and skilled workforce, employing more than 120,000 people in excess of 12,000 businesses, the second-highest figure in Greater Manchester.
The purchase marks the fifth transaction under the the UK National Commercial Real Estate Programme, which Global’s real estate asset management team launched, in partnership with the London based Greenridge Investment Management Limited 2015. The programme was set up to identify off-market investment opportunities outside Central London. Portfolio tenants also include National Air Traffic Services, 3M Co, the National Health Services (NHS) of Scotland and most recently, Hartshead House in Sheffield City Centre, which is primarily let to the UK government.
chnelson@thenational.ae
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