£54m Aberdeen office deal official at last

By JIM DOW

THE £54 million purchase of a major office in Aberdeen is good news at the best of times and even more so in the current unhappy investment market.

Yet details of the transaction have slipped out in dribs and drabs over the past month.

It was first revealed on 4 May in Scotland on Sunday, who described it as a deal which commercial property experts were calling the biggest in Aberdeen for nine years – the German fund TMW Pramerica buying the BP HQ building from Goodman Property Investors.

It was for a yield of around 6.25 per cent. BP rents the 207,000 sq ft glass-fronted property for £3.6 million a year.

Bell and Scott, who obviously read Scotland on Sunday, referred briefly to the deal two days later in its Sector Knowledge newsletter.

Property Week picked up the story on 18 May and The Scotsman got in on the act with a piece on 23May.

Still no official announcement, but the day it appeared in The Scotsman it was lawyers Brodies who at last blew the trumpet.

It announced that it had finalised the purchase of a flagship Aberdeen office in what is believed to be the city’s biggest commercial property deal in almost ten years.

It acted for Pramerica Real Estate, the German-based subsidiary of the US-based Prudential, in the acquisition of the building that is currently leased to BP as its Scottish headquarters.

It added that Pramerica, a new client win for Brodies, had bought the property from

Nick Scott - deal is 'comfortably one of the largest'

Goodman Property Investors for in excess of £50million (sterling).

Commenting on the purchase, Nick Scott, partner at Brodies, said: “This is comfortably one of the largest commercial property deals in Aberdeen in recent times and in the larger Scottish market this year.

“It’s an encouraging sign given current market conditions, where falling values and lack of availability of debt have significantly reduced transaction volumes. Continental investors, particularly German funds, remain active in the UK market and we look forward to working on future deals this year.

“While credit terms have tightened, and loan to value ratios have fallen quite a bit, many of our clients have no shortage of funds available to spend and the real issue for them is picking the right time to re-enter the market.”

The property was recently developed by Akeler, who also retain adjacent land, and this is expected to be developed in the coming years.

So it was official at last.

No leaks or hints about the agents involved but, clearly, they deserve a mention – Cushman & Wakefield for Primerica, while Strutt & Parker’s London office advised Goodman.