Highcross in £20m swoop on property

PARTS of a property portfolio owned by the rescued lender HBOS and Scottish entrepreneur Scott Cairns have been sold to a fund in a £20.3 million deal.

Property fund manager Highcross has acquired seven office and industrial properties in Scotland. These form part of the Ben Cleuch portfolio owned by Cairns' Bonnytoun Estates, which was formed in 2001 in a joint venture with HBOS' Peter Cummings.

The purchase price reflects a relatively low value for the properties, on a net initial yield of 9.1 per cent.

Five of the assets are in Aberdeen, and include the 23,371sq ft Cromarty House office building in Regent Quay, which is fully let to Det Norske Veritas UK and a further 20,717sq ft office building on Westhill Business Park.

Also in Aberdeen, Highcross purchased a multi-let industrial estate and two HQ-style office-industrial facilities in Bridge of Don, together with office and warehouse premises on the Altens Industrial Estate.

The remaining properties acquired are in Glasgow and Dunfermline, including three office pavilions at the Phoenix Business Park in Linwood.

Mark Evans, who leads Highcross' Scotland-based team, said the firm was "building a strong portfolio of office and industrial schemes in key locations in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh".

In the past six months, it has also completed the purchase of two further office and industrial schemes in Aberdeen.