BCPT office sell-off continues

Balanced Commercial Property Trust has sold another office asset from its portfolio as it seeks to reduce its exposure to the sector. The fund has sold the 10,800 sq ft 17A Curzon Street, W1, at a 2.3% discount to its valuation. The office was valued at between £20m and £30m. BCPT has now contracted on seven office disposals since the start of December 2023. These disposals have raised aggregate sales proceeds of £129.5m at an average discount of 4.1% to the then-preceding valuations. Following completion of the sales, BCPT is expected to have cash of approximately £120m. Richard Kirby, BCPT fund manager, said: “This latest disposal underlines not only the liquidity within the company’s portfolio but our ability to deliver value-accretive asset management strategies through market cycles. “The quality of the underlying assets within the portfolio has enabled us to dispose successfully of holdings across the office sector, including capital-heavy multi-let assets, the structurally challenged regional business park segment and the low-yielding central London markets. Accordingly, we believe the portfolio is now better positioned to deliver shareholder value.” BCPT is in the process of a strategic review of its portfolio that could see it wind down the £1bn fund. All assets were effectively put up for sale as a result of the strategic review, with interested parties running a rule over the whole portfolio. Asif Aziz’s Criterion Capital is understood to be keen to buy the fund’s St Christopher’s Place estate, currently valued at around £200m. However, the board of BCPT said it did not “currently expect” to announce any further sales in the near term.