Property fund eyes bargain deal for GPO

AN ENGLISH property fund is lining up a cut-price bid for Edinburgh's former General Post Office.

Berkshire-based Highcross – which owns more than 15 million square feet of business space in the UK – is understood to be the front runner to buy Waverley Gate.

It is expected to bid up to 30 million for the office, which developer Castlemore spent 100m on to bring back to life.

The property is in the hands of administrators BDO Stoy Hayward following the collapse of Castlemore, which owed Bank of Scotland 44.7m.

NHS Lothian and Creative Scotland are among the firms to have shown an interest in leasing space in the building, which is likely to have made it a more attractive investment opportunity.

Waverley Gate was lying empty for two years before Microsoft moved into a small area on the top two floors of the Waterloo Place building in 2008.

It emerged last summer that the value of the building had slumped from 90 million to only 32m.