M&G buys 500,000 sq ft RBS Spinningfields offices

M&G Real Estate has acquired the two Royal Bank of Scotland buildings in Manchester's prime office district for £320m, reflecting a net initial yield of 4.2%.

The sale price is above the asking price of £306m and marks the latest in a run of large office building sales in Manchester; the Co-operative Group's One Angel Square and Bruntwood's City Tower both fetched in excess of £100m in the past 18 months.

The two RBS blocks bought by M&G are 1 Hardman Boulevard, which totals 350,000 sq ft, and the smaller front-of-house office fronting Deansgate of 150,000 sq ft.

M&G Real Estate confirmed on Friday it has exchanged contracts with vendor EY, which was appointed administrator to four subsidiaries of Matrix Securities in April 2014.

The purchase of 1 Spinningfields Square was made on behalf of an internal client fund of M&G Real Estate; 1 Hardman Boulevard was purchased on behalf of a third party client of M&G Investments.

The two offices are leased in their entirety to RBS for a further 23 years and are subject to annual fixed rental uplifts of 3%. Ben Cairns, Craig Lewis and Alan Bloom of EY were appointed joint administrators of the asset owning companies in April 2014.

Steffan Francis, director of fund management, M&G Real Estate, said: "We continue to see strong demand for secure, long-term cash flows and have substantial sums of client capital to invest across a range of sectors."

Ben Cairns, joint administrator, said: "The sales process has achieved an excellent outcome for the creditors and the timescale within which the transaction has been concluded has resulted in minimal disruption for the tenant, for whom these are strategically important operational assets."

The joint administrators were advised by Ernst & Young Real Estate Corporate Finance, Savills and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. M&G Real Estate was advised by JLL and Hogan Lovells.