Manchester Science Parks completes Alderley Park deal
Manchester Science Parks has exchanged contracts on AstraZeneca’s 400-acre Alderley Park research base in Alderley Edge.
MSP, which is also planning to triple the size of its main centre near Manchester University to 1.1 million sq ft over the next 10 years, said the deal would “catapult” it to the forefront of commercial life sciences in the North.
The acquisition has been mainly funded by Bruntwood which holds 51% of MSP, but cash has also come from Cheshire East Council and MSP, whose other shareholders are the universities of Manchester and Salford, Manchester Metropolitan University and the city council.
Cheshire East’s involvement will see it taking 10% of the Alderley Park venture and 3% of MSP. The value of the transaction was not disclosed but bids for the site were thought to have ranged from £30m to £50m.
AstraZeneca has been looking for a buyer for Alderley Park after announcing plans to close the base and move 1,600 jobs, with most of them going to a new research site in Cambridge.
Around 700 jobs will stay at Alderley Park, although these will not be involved in research and development. The site has 1.5 million sq ft of offices and labs and Cheshire East Council is already working with AstraZeneca on space for early stage technology companies under the BioHub brand. Upmarket housing is expected to form part of any future plan. Other bidders are understood to have been Palmer Capital, Telereal Trilium and residential developer Huntsmere.
Chris Oglesby, chairman of MSP and chief executive of Bruntwood, said: “This is a truly unique opportunity to take on one of the best invested sites in the world, complete with state of the art facilities and equipment for bioscience companies.
“We are delighted to have been entrusted with securing the future of Alderley Park as a life science facility of world class scale and quality. We are committed to developing a sector-led business cluster of international importance on the site, making it a flagship location of its kind for the North of England and the UK.”
MSP chief executive Rowena Burns said: “Our overall strategy and vision is to bring together the strengths of Alderley Park, as a bioscience R&D facility of unique scale and quality, with the existing MSP clusters and links to the knowledge base to create an internationally compelling commercial science offer and driver of future economic growth.”
Leader of Cheshire East Council Michael Jones, said: “We look forward to working with MSP to ensure the Alderley Park bio-science hub becomes a powerhouse that leads the way, not just in Britain but globally – and delivers future-proof jobs, growth and innovative technologies for the North West and UK plc.”
MSP said pre-tax profits increased to £713,000 in the 12 months to September from £176,000 in the nine months to September 2012. Occupancy stands at 91%.
The Manchester office of Addleshaw Goddard advised Bruntwood and MSP. AstraZeneca was advised by JLL on the property side.
For a bird’s eye view of Alderley Park click here: http://vimeo.com/88776994
