Stockbroker sells city centre office for £5m
STOCKBROKER and wealth manager WH Ireland has sold its Manchester office for £5.27m, nine months after putting it on the market.
The firm’s large Manchester office on John Dalton Street/ St James Square was its corporate headquarters for many years.
The firm’s wholly owned subsidiary Readycount has disposed of the freehold property to Manchester-based Beech Developments at a premium to the carrying book value of £4.75m.
The company has agreed to lease the property back from Beech for at least five months, whilst it finds suitable alternative offices to rent in the city centre.
The offices were put up for sale in April last year. When asked why, chief executive Richard Killingback told TheBusinessDesk: “We are not a property company, we are a financial services company. We’ve had that building for at least 10 years – the local market is much more buoyant now and we don’t need to hold the asset.
“You couldn’t get a better location in the centre of town and there has been a lot of interest so we are hoping that it is the right time.”
WH Ireland said it will use the sale proceeds for general corporate purposes.
Killingbeck added: “The proceeds of this sale will bring greater flexibility to the business in the future as we look to continue to refocus and invest in both divisions of the company.
“Our Manchester presence in the future will be enhanced by a new central office location focused upon the provision of our private wealth management and wealth planning services and the majority of our new middle office team.
“This move to a new office, once completed in the summer of 2017, will reinforce our commitment to both Manchester and the North West “.
