Quintain Estates and Development plc sell London office space in £97.1m deal

Property investor Quintain Estates have sold their Pier Walk development on the Greenwich Peninsula for £97.1m to Deka Immobilien GmbH, a subsidiary of the DekaBank Group.

The deal represents a 6% uplift above a valuation at the end of Q1 with a yield of 5.9%. This clearly demonstrates the potential value within the Greenwich Peninsula scheme.

Quintain has also seen a 20% expansion of their student housing portfolio.

Both deals have allowed the firm to complete two of their nine three-year goals that it had set itself in Q2 2010, demonstrating strong progress and optimism for the future.

Chief executive of Quintain, Adrian Wyatt, said, “In our June results announcement we set out a new three-year business plan, including key operational milestones for the current financial year. Two months on, we are pleased to have delivered the first two of these nine milestones with the sale of Pier Walk at Greenwich and a 20% expansion of our iQ portfolio.”

He added, “In addition, we have secured a material increase in the group’s income, started to invest the equity that was raised at a 5% premium to NAV by Quercus earlier this year and made further progress with the sale of our remaining residential properties.”

The retail units within the development will be leased back to Greenwich Peninsula Regeneration Ltd, a joint venture between Quintain and Lend Lease Europe Ltd, who hold 50% each. Transport for London are the only occupants of the building, accommodating 1,800 employees in the 198,000 sq ft on a 20-year lease.

Mr Wyatt concluded, “While the recovery in the property sector has yet to become widespread or gather momentum, our focus on the fulfilment of our strategy is unequivocal and we anticipate the delivery of further milestones before the end of the calendar year.”