Slater & Gordon poised to take Cobbetts’ old HQ
COBBETTS’ former headquarters in Manchester’s Mosley Street is under offer to the law firm Slater & Gordon.
The 103,000 sq ft block has been empty since Cobbetts collapsed into administration in February last year.
Slater & Gordon has been looking for 100,000 sq ft to pull together the 700 staff it has acquired in Manchester through a string of deals.
Earlier this year the Australian legal group paid £33m for Pannone’s consumer law divisions which have 400 staff. It already has around 300 staff in Manchester following the January 2012 acquisition of Russell Jones & Walker and the August takeover of personal injury specialist Fentons.
It is understood to be paying around £20/sq ft for the grade A space. The building is owned by the Bank of Ireland’s New Ireland Assurance Co.
When Cobbetts failed it had total liabilities of £90.1m, of which £74.4m related to property leases, according to a creditors’ report.
The agents on the building are CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield. Slater & Gordon is being represented by OBI.
The deal has been confirmed by several sources but all parties declined to comment.
