Bruntwood buys Bridgewater House for £28m

Cash-rich office landlord Bruntwood has benefited from the credit crunch by acquiring Bridgewater House in Manchester city centre from Global Asset Management's UBS Triton Property Fund for £28.5m.

The 200,000 sq ft Grade II-listed building on Whitworth Street West is multi-let with tenants including Swinton Insurance and The British Council. Quoting rents are £15.75/sq ft.

UBS paid £21.1m for the building in 2002, acquiring it from Frogmore.

Bruntwood completed a £440m commercial mortgage-backed securitisation against 48 properties at the start of 2007, beating the credit crunch by months, and is widely tipped to mop up assets from distressed funds and banks in the present declining market.

Savills and Edwards & Co are letting agents on the building.

All parties declined to comment.