Cross St block under offer in PPG sell-off
A PROMINENT Manchester city centre block is being sold as part of the wind down of Edinburgh-based Premier Property Group (PPG), the property business of former Rangers owner Sir David Murray.
The building at 22-26 Cross St, next to the Royal Exchange, is under offer but the identity of the buyer has not been disclosed.
It has a Sainsbury’s on the ground floor but the upper seven floors, covering around 26,000 sq ft, have been empty for some time.
Leeds-based Aurora Property Developments and PPG submitted plans for a comprehensive office refurbishment in September 2008 but the work never progressed. Aurora stopped trading around three years ago and the building was taken on by PPG which funded the purchase.
PPG director Lynne Higgins confirmed it was under offer and said the sale should complete by Christmas but could not give the identity of the buyer.
So far the sale of around £100m of assets has been agreed to the Mars Pension Fund, Starwood Capital and Catalyst Capital. In 2010 PPG completed a review and restructuring following a £150m debt for equity swap by its parent, Murray International Holdings, with Lloyds Banking Group. This took Lloyds’ stake up from 11% to 24% and since then it has been steadily winding down its portfolio.
