Centurion to manage Aberdeen industrial estates
Centurion Properties has agreed a four-year mandate with Aberdeen Asset Management to manage 10 of its multi-let industrial estates.
The transaction follows the successful partnership, formed in 2009 between Centurion and Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, acquired by Aberdeen Asset Management in March 2014, which resulted in Centurion sourcing, buying and managing £300m of multi-let industrial properties for SWIP Property Trust, now Aberdeen Property Trust.
The £200m Aberdeen Property Trust portfolio, which will be managed by Centurion, stretches from Deeside in Flintshire to Stockport in Manchester, as well as taking in sites in the Midlands, Heathrow and Hampshire. Centurion will aim to substantially increase the income profile of the portfolio, as well as source additional, larger multi-let industrial assets and portfolios.
As well as cementing its relationship with Aberdeen, Centurion has launched its own direct investment platform, Centurion Capital Partners, which is funded by ICG-Longbow, a specialist UK property investment manager. Centurion Capital Partners has an initial £100m to invest in the office and industrial sectors, having purchased its first asset, Lawnswood Business Park, an office park in Leeds, for £17.25m.
Julian Rooth, founder and chief executive of Centurion, said: “The new mandate with Aberdeen Asset Management extends our six-year partnership and reflects our expertise at acquiring and intensively managing in the multi-let industrial property sector to deliver performance-beating returns for the Aberdeen Property Trust.”
Centurion was founded in 2000 by Julian Rooth as a co-investing asset and development manager of UK real estate.