United Kingdom: British Land Sells DC Portfolio for £125 million

UK real estate firm British Land has exchanged contracts to sell a portfolio of data centers and offices in London for £125 million. This deal represented an initial net yield of 4.6 percent, delivering an internal return rate of 8.2 percent per annum since its acquisition in 2007.

The company did not reveal details of the portfolio or the buyer. However, CoStar reported that ICG, the global alternative asset manager based in London, has bought the portfolio of six London-based data centers and offices leased to Vodafone, which BL has been marketing via Savills.

Simon Carter, British Land CEO, said: "I am pleased with the continued momentum in the business. Operationally we are seeing strong leasing activity which reflects the exceptional quality of our portfolio and has resulted in our recent upgrade of the expected ERV growth in retail parks.We have also strengthened our balance sheet in the period and continue to actively recycle capital with the disposal of non-core assets ahead of book value."