Guernsey based UK Commercial Property Trust (UKCPT) has disposed of 176-206 Kensington High Street and a retail asset in Brighton for a combined sum of over £80 million.
The Kensington asset, comprising 57,000 sq ft of ground floor retail space and 108 flats, was acquired by a private buyer advised by CBRE. Existing tenants in the retail space include Sports Direct and Snow + Rock.
The £60 million price tag reflects rising property price rises and increasingly low supply in areas such as Oxford Street and Bond Street which have forced investors to search further afield when looking to acquire suitable commercial assets.
Elsewhere in the South East, UKCPT has disposed of 134-138 North Street in Brighton, helping to achieve the trust’s aim to move away from retail properties of smaller sizes in favour of larger floor plate assets.
In total, the combined deals brought in a sale price of £82.7 million which, according to UKCPT, is “marginally ahead” of the aggregate valuation conducted on the 31st of March this year.
UKCPT is advised by Standard Life Investments, and fund manager Will Fulton confirmed that the proceeds of the sale will recycled in the near future.
He says; “Having successfully implemented asset management initiatives at both properties, we have taken the strategic decision to sell into a strong investment market and intend to use the proceeds to reinvest into higher yielding assets with opportunity to redeploy our asset management skillset to grow long term income. To this end, we are pursuing a number of investment opportunities.”
