UK fund out front with £51m bid for 90 Bartholomew

Aberdeen Standard Investments is understood to have seen off strong competition to buy the only openly marketed asset currently available in London. The fund, advised by Knight Frank, is frontrunner to buy 90 Bartholomew Close, EC1, from Helical. Its bid of around £51m reflects a 3.9% yield. Helical put the 30,929 sq ft property up for sale in January with a guide price of £44m, a 4.5% yield. More than 80 prospective buyers are understood to have viewed the building, indicating the weight of capital hungry to invest in the UK and the dearth of available assets for sale. The acquisition for Aberdeen Standard is an example of the rebalancing of its portfolio away from retail. Neil Slater, who took over as global head of real estate at the fund last September, is conducting a review of the fund manager’s investment strategy in the wake of redemptions hitting its £1.2bn property fund. Some 40% of Aberdeen UK Property Fund’s assets are in retail. Most recently it has put the Riverside shopping centre in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, up for sale for £20m through Lunson Mitchenall, and has instructed Knight Frank to sell the 190,000 sq ft Broadwalk Centre in Edgware, north London, for £60m as a potential residential redevelopment project. The asset was completed by Helical in 2018 and is let to six tenants including Eric Salmon & Partners, Northridge and Constantine Cannon, providing around £2m of annual income. The weighted unexpired term is around eight years, with just under six years to the first break. Fineman Ross and Ingleby Trice are advising Helical. All parties declined to comment. To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@egi.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @estatesgazette