Stenprop has paid £75m for a prestige office building in the heart of London’s West End. The 65,000 sq ft block was purchased as 50-50 joint venture with an un-named partner.
In a statement confirming the 25 Argyll Street acquisition, situated opposite the Apple Store in Regent Street, Stenprop said it was also in the final stages of buying Berlin’s Hermann Quartier shopping centre for €22.7m (£16.1m). Both deals will be 50 per cent funded from the €35m (£25m) the company raised in March from a “substantially oversubscribed” private placement to South African investors.
“The capital raise completed has enabled us to successfully convert our pipeline and acquire these two strategic yield enhancing assets with secure lease profiles and strong capital growth potential,” commented Stenprop chief executive, Paul Arenson.
In London, the Argyll Street office building is fully let to the Swedish multinational retail-clothing company, H&M, and the US-controlled event ticket finder Live Nation. It also houses the British headquarters of the internet music streaming service Spotify. All three are reportedly paying around £55 per sq ft in annual rent.
The 92,000 sq ft Hermann Quartier is located in Berlin’s central suburb of Neukoelln with excellent transport links, including an underground station within the shopping centre. Its biggest tenants are the German supermarket chain Kaiser’s, the pharmacy DM, Netto, the fashion retailer KIK and a Reno shoe shop. Stenprop says the paperwork on the purchase should be completed within two months.
“Both these properties are in line with our strategy to invest in locations and markets likely to deliver growth in income and property values over time,” added Arenson. “We have a healthy pipeline and are in advanced discussions to potentially acquire another medium sized suburban retail centre in a major German city.”
Stenprop was established five years ago and is dual listed on both the Bermuda Stock Exchange and the AltX market of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. In Europe it operates from an office in St Peter Port, Guernsey. So far it has completed more than €2.0bn (£1.42bn) worth of global deals.
