Commercial Property Deal OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY Haslams WINNER CEG/Honda Motor Europe
Tom Gaynor received the award from Neil Seager (left) of sponsor Haslams with Jeremy Vine (right)
The penultimate award (and last surprise announcement) of the evening had attracted a significant number of nominations – evident from the general interest throughout the room.
The judges had made careful deliberation and Jeremy Vine announced their three finalists: Commercial Estates Group/ Honda Motor Europe, Nexen/Stanza, and Winnersh Triangle.
The Honda Motor Europe/Commercial Estates Group deal involved the relocation by Honda from Langley to Bracknell following CEG’s purchase and subsequent refurbishment of the Reflex building in Cain Road. This was a significant deal that showed faith in the Bracknell property market and has been described as a “huge inward investment win” for the town. The deal, which surprised the market, was not only significant because Honda took a secondhand building in a relatively unfashionable area, but the letting was the fifth largest in the Thames Valley in 2013.
The Stanza Building is a new office headquarters in Uxbridge, which was sold for £43.1 million to NFU Mutual following the letting of the entire 82,400 sq ft building to Nexen Petroleum UK on a 12-year lease. Located adjacent to the Grand Union Canal and with waterfront views, the Stanza
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Building was acquired by Rockspring Hanover Property Unit Trust in November 2011 as a speculative development in partnership with Bell Hammer and was completed in November 2012. Hanover committed to the speculative building when the market was still in recession, and created a profitable development of Grade A office space with a BREEAM rating of ‘very good’, and a ‘B’ Energy Performance Certificate. The building incorporates sustainable features such as solar panels, rainwater harvesting and energy saving lighting.
Winnersh Triangle, formerly known as IQ Winnersh, was sold by Slough company SEGRO for £245 million to a joint venture between Oaktree Capital Management and Patrizia AG. The sale of 1.3 million sq ft of mixed-use office and light industrial also included nine acres of adjacent development land. The adjoining 100 Berkshire Place being bought shortly after made this the largest single property acquisition in the south east in 2013. The deal was a significant display of confidence in the Thames Valley economic region, with the local office of Barclays providing debt finance for the acquisition.
Neil Seager, partner at category sponsor Haslams, the Thames Valley property experts, came to the stage to announce
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – JUNE 2014
the winner…. Commercial Estates Group/ Honda Motor Europe.
After receiving the Commercial Property Deal of the Year Award, Tom Gaynor, asset manager for Commercial Estates Group, said: “It’s obviously great to be recognised for all the hard work and the risks that we took going into a difficult market. The award also reinforces our commitment to try to market buildings and do things differently.”
Gaynor said CEG had considered the basic property positives of Bracknell – “well located between the M3 and M4, with good stock and really good value compared to other Thames Valley towns”. CEG had purchased the Reflex building because “we believed that, coming into a period of growth in the economy, Bracknell would do well, the building was of good quality and we would be able to offer attractive terms to good quality tenants. Fundamentally, the building, although 25 years old, was built to a very high standard and it still meets the needs of a modern occupier.”
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