Sampson House, on Hopton Road, SE1, sold for euro 216.97 million ($267.7 million). The 386,288-sf office block is let to IBM until December 2025 with a mutual break clause in June 2018. By December the rent will total euro 13.7 million ($16.9 million) a year.
Ludgate House, Blackfriars Road, SE1 sold for euro 113.2 million ($139.6 million). The 173,633-sf building is let to United Business Media for euro 7 million ($8.7 million) a year. The lease expires in March 2015 with a landlord's break clause in 2010.
Minerva officials say the consideration had been paid in cash and the proceeds would be utilized to re-pay associated debt and for general corporate purposes. "In the past four months we have entered into agreements for the sale of £634 million of property," says Minerva chief executive Salmaan Hasan. "This results in a significant reduction in our gearing to a nominal level. The total value of these sales is, overall, slightly ahead of our last published year-end valuation figures for these properties as at 30 June 2004. "With the substantial cash that these disposals have generated, along with the arrangements in respect of The Walbrook and Park Place, the company is well-set to deliver future growth for shareholders."
Since Minerva failed to sell itself for euro 720 million ($888 million) earlier this year, the developer has been carrying out a series of disposals, including the Olswang headquarters at 90 High Holborn to German fund KanAm for euro 194 million ($239 million).
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