Development Securities seals £82m arena deal
DEVELOPMENT Securities has confirmed the £82.1m sale of the Phones 4u Arena in Manchester.
The property group and its joint venture partner Patron Capital have sold to Mansford Real Estate, a division of Mansford Capital Partners, which is based in London and owned by Oliver Smith and Charles Knight.
Development Securities acquired the 21,000-seater venue from GE Real Estate for £62.2m in June 2010. Two months later it announced a joint venture and funding deal with investment firm Patron Capital Partners, which left it with a 30% stake.
The venue had no sponsor for 18 months until Phones 4u signed up to a five-year naming rights deal in July. The Manchester Evening News ended a 13-year association with the venue in December 2011.
In a statement Development Securities said that it had undertaken a “number of asset enhancement initiatives to drive rental income and capital value”. These included a re-gear of the operator lease with SMG Europe, increasing advertising income, refurbishing the vacant office space and retendering the naming rights. In addition to the arena, the complex has 128,000 sq ft of office space and a multi-storey car park.
Development Securities’ chief executive Michael Marx, said: “The Phones 4u Arena has been a strong performer for us and our asset management and enhancement strategies have added significant value.
“We are pleased to have secured the sale of the Arena, three years since acquisition and in line with our business plan. The cash returned through this disposal further strengthens the company balance sheet and follows the recent concluding deal at Paddington Central which realised £12.1m of cash and the sale of our Broughton residential land holding earlier in the year which also released £11.4m of cash.”
