Jul 18, 2005
Slough Estates Plc, a leading provider of flexible business space, today announces the off-market purchase of holding entities owning two major multi-let estates, Woodside Industrial Estate in Dunstable and Heywood Distribution Park in Manchester, from WB Woodside II, L.P. and WB Heywood L.P. (two limited partnerships managed by Moorfield Investment Management Limited a subsidiary of Moorfield Group Limited) for £276 million in cash, using Slough's existing banking facilities.
Woodside and Heywood are two of the largest industrial parks in the UK. Together the two sites contain 4.0m sq. ft. of prime industrial property, providing a combined contracted rental income of approximately £16.5 million per annum, and over 28 acres of further development land.
Ian Coull, Chief Executive of Slough Estates commented: "I am delighted to announce the addition of the Woodside and Heywood estates, which is in line with our strategy of focusing on industrial property to provide flexible business space for our customers. The estates not only provide good quality properties with high calibre occupiers but also over 28 acres of well-situated, prime land, presenting an excellent development opportunity. The purchase was agreed off-market which was an effective way to add such significant assets to our industrial portfolio. In particular, Woodside strengthens our presence in our North London and East of England region and Heywood opens up a new opportunity for a Northern region for Slough Estates. Following this transaction, Slough Estates now owns five of the largest industrial estates in the UK including the Slough Trading Estate, Winnersh and Kings Norton."
Marc Gilbard, Managing Director of Moorfield Group said: "Our relationship with Slough Estates has allowed us to undertake an off-market transaction that is in the best interests of both parties. It brings a conclusion to two of the three successful joint ventures between Moorfield Group and Westbrook Partners and allows Moorfield to focus more time on its recently raised real estate fund".
Slough Estates is a leading provider of flexible business space in business parks in Western Europe and North America, with over 1500 customers occupying 2,996,967 square metres of business space, with a total value of £3.9 billion. Slough Estates' properties are in suburban locations in close proximity to the main business centres, where there is long term demand for business accommodation to serve these key economic regions. The company's main activities are currently based around London, Brussels, Paris, Düsseldorf, Amsterdam, San Francisco and San Diego and the company continues to develop new business parks with the long term objective of building shareholder value and enhancing its reputation for quality buildings offering excellent value to customers.
www.sloughestates.com
Moorfield Group is a private company that is the Investment and Asset Manager of, and Co- Investor in, Limited Partnerships owning real estate and real estate related investment opportunities throughout the UK. The recently raised Moorfield Real Estate Fund currently has some £1 billion to invest.
www.moorfieldgroup.com
For further information contact:
Slough Estates
Ian Coull, Chief Executive
Andy Gulliford, Director, Corporate Acquisitions
Tel: 01753 537171
Moorfield Group Limited
Marc Gilbard, Managing Director
Tel: 0207 399 1900
Shared Value Limited
Emily Bruning
Tel: 020 7321 5027