Colony and M7 to sell £270m portfolio at centre of Quidnet legal battle
Colony Capital has put up for sale a £270m UK portfolio at the heart of a continuing legal dispute with Quidnet and Richard Tice (pictured), the asset manager’s chief executive and co-founder of the Leave.EU campaign.
Colony transferred the management of the assets to M7 Real Estate earlier this year, which led to a £6.4m damages claim for breach of contract being lodged in the high court in July against five Luxembourg-registered vehicles holding the assets.
M7 is run by chief executive Richard Croft, who is an outspoken Remainer. Last year he told EG: “My position on Brexit is stronger than ever – I think it is a disaster for the country in terms of its social impact. I am very concerned about London, where I think the occupational market may be hit very badly, far more so than the regions.”
Colony Capital has put up for sale a £270m UK portfolio at the heart of a continuing legal dispute with Quidnet and Richard Tice (pictured), the asset manager’s chief executive and co-founder of the Leave.EU campaign.
Colony transferred the management of the assets to M7 Real Estate earlier this year, which led to a £6.4m damages claim for breach of contract being lodged in the high court in July against five Luxembourg-registered vehicles holding the assets.
M7 is run by chief executive Richard Croft, who is an outspoken Remainer. Last year he told EG: “My position on Brexit is stronger than ever – I think it is a disaster for the country in terms of its social impact. I am very concerned about London, where I think the occupational market may be hit very badly, far more so than the regions.”
Now M7 and Colony have appointed Tudor Toone and Knight Frank to sell the 25-asset Project Ariel at a price reflecting a yield of 7.65%.
Ariel totals around 2m sq ft, comprising 59% offices, 17% leisure, 16% retail and 8% industrial. By contracted rent, more than 50% is situated in the South of England.
The portfolio generates a passing rent of around £19m. It has a vacancy rate of close to 5%, meaning that once fully occupied the yield on the portfolio will move out to in the region of 8.65%. The assets have an average unexpired lease term to first break clause of close to five years.
The two assets with the highest income are both office buildings: the 186,672 sq ft Grange in Cheltenham, followed by the 116,472 sq ft Astral Towers in Gatwick.
Ariel also includes two retail parks – the 130,037 sq ft Bolton Gate Retail Park and 132,886 sq ft Renfrew Retail Park – as well as the 437,496 sq ft Wednesbury Trading Estate in Staffordshire.
Main image © Finbarr Webster/Rex/Shutterstock
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