Trafalgar Court sold for £55m.
TRAFALGAR Court has been sold for £55m. in one of the largest investment transactions in the Channel Islands in recent years.
D2 Real Estate, working alongside JLL and acting for Stenprop, have sold the Admiral Park property for £55m. to ARC Global (Guernsey) Holdings Ltd – a subsidiary of Global Net Lease Inc.
The property is 10,564 sq m, with the majority being let to Northern Trust and Aztec Financial Services.
D2 managing director Phil Dawes said despite Covid-19 challenges, the transaction had gone well.
‘The sale of Trafalgar presented its own unique challenges, particularly given the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions that placed on travel, arranging inspections and surveys,’ he said.
‘The importance of thorough pre-sale due diligence and high-quality interactive brochures and virtual tours ultimately paid dividends, as we were still able to market the property to a global audience.’
This transaction ranks third in terms of lot size in sales over the past few years – Gaspe House in St Helier, Jersey, sold for £90m. in 2018, while Admiral Park buildings Dorey and Martello Courts sold for £60m. in 2019.
D2 Real Estate director Alex Titheridge said: ‘The pool of investors seeking to buy in the Channel Islands has definitely increased over the past few years.
‘The lot sizes are attractive and occupational supply and demand dynamics are strong, so you tend to get long leases, steady rental growth and financially strong occupiers.’
The transaction will support Stenprop’s strategy to become a 100% UK multi-let industrial estate business – known as MLI – by March 2022.
Stenprop CEO Paul Arenson described the sale as an important milestone for the company.
‘The proceeds will be deployed into attractive MLI opportunities in the UK and takes the percentage of MLI in our portfolio to over 90%,’ he said.
‘We have approximately £45m. of non-MLI assets left to sell and look forward to announcing further acquisitions and disposals.’
Mr Titheridge added: ‘This asset also has genuine asset management opportunities.
‘In recent years there have been several new overseas entrants, from the Middle East, south-east Asia and now the US, which shows real confidence in the Channel Islands investment market and office sector as a whole.’
