Hansteen to buy into Ashtenne Industrial Fund
COMMERCIAL property investor Hansteen Holdings is spending £52m on a 26.3% stake in the Ashtenne Industrial Fund which owns a number of key North West sites.
Hansteen said it would buy £42.5m new units in the fund and acquire Warner Estate Holdings’ 5.3% stake.
Hansteen has also been appointed by fund manager Aviva as the fund’s asset manager, replacing Warner which said today it was filing for administration. All 95 staff will transfer to Hansteen.
Hansteen will also become asset manager of Aviva’s APIA Regional Office Fund and Norwepp, a joint venture between Ashtenne and the Homes and Communities Agency which is also known as Space North West. It owns Exchange Station in Liverpool, pictured, and the Liverpool Innovation Park.
APIA owns eight regional office properties, including Sunlight House in Manchester and Yorkshire House in Leeds, which it plans to sell by March 2015.
The Ashtenne Industrial Fund has 14.6 million sq ft of multi-let industrial properties across the UK which includes over 3,000 units on 240 individual estates. It has an annual rent roll of £43.5m and a current vacancy of 18%. At June 30 the gross asset value of the properties was £460m.
