Oxford Biomedica seeks HQ sale-and-leaseback
Vaccine manufacturer Oxford Biomedica has hoisted a for sale sign above its Windrush Court headquarters at Transport Way, Oxford, as part of a sale-and-leaseback.
The gene and cell therapy company has appointed CBRE on its search for a new landlord. It is seeking offers exceeding £58.8m for the offices, which total around 72,000 sq ft.
A deal at this price would reflect a huge premium to purchase price. The company bought the freehold for Windrush Court for around £3.2m in 2014 to consolidate its operations with its manufacturing facility opposite. It was previously based at the Medawar Centre in Oxford.
Vaccine manufacturer Oxford Biomedica has hoisted a for sale sign above its Windrush Court headquarters at Transport Way, Oxford, as part of a sale-and-leaseback.
The gene and cell therapy company has appointed CBRE on its search for a new landlord. It is seeking offers exceeding £58.8m for the offices, which total around 72,000 sq ft.
A deal at this price would reflect a huge premium to purchase price. The company bought the freehold for Windrush Court for around £3.2m in 2014 to consolidate its operations with its manufacturing facility opposite. It was previously based at the Medawar Centre in Oxford.
Works to convert office space into GMP-grade laboratories at the site were completed in Q4 last year to meet near-term demand in commercial development and analytics.
The news comes after the group secured planning consent to redevelop its innovation centre to provide next-generation R&D facilities, with the project expected to start in the second half of this year.
The Windrush Innovation Centre will measure 64,583 sq ft and offer space for 250 researchers across three labs. Last year the group doubled the £15m capex it set aside for the project.
A spokesman for Biomedica confirmed: “Selling our Windrush Court facility in Oxford on a sale-and-leaseback option, will provide additional liquidity and financial flexibility for investment in the future expansion of our growing business. A process is ongoing and an update to the market may or may not follow.”
The life sciences sector is becoming increasingly popular as an investment class in the UK real estate market, with billions of pounds of capital flowing into the sector.
Research from JLL estimated there was as much as £15bn of capital allocated to UK life sciences. According to Bidwells, in 2021, a total of £1.3bn of investment was made into life sciences in the Oxford Arc region.
Numerous big-name investors have been building portfolios in the sector in recent months, including Oxford Properties, Life Science REIT and Bruntwood SciTech.
Oxford Biomedica began life as a struggling university spin-out but was thrust into the limelight in spring 2020 when it was chosen to manufacture the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine at its OxBox facilities on the outskirts of the city.
The business looks set to provide a secure covenant for any prospective purchaser of its HQ, with its most recent accounts revealing a 63% increase in revenues to £142.8m in the year ended 31 December 2021.
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