Specialist European real estate private equity firm Peakside Capital has acquired 80 Hammersmith Road, London from Scottish Amicable Life Assurance Society on behalf of the Peakside Real Estate Fund I (PREF I).
The building, located in the heart of Hammersmith, currently comprises 41,574 sq ft of net lettable area over six floors and has 41 parking spaces. Peakside will take vacant possession on completion of the acquisition and will execute an extensive reconfiguration plan. A planning application has been submitted to reposition the existing building to a Grade A office standard, with a view to releasing it to the occupational market towards the end of 2011.
This is the first transaction in the UK for PREF I, a pan-European opportunistic fund with a total of EUR261 million of capital commitments, and is in line with the Fund’s acquisition strategy as it offers an exceptional opportunity to carry out an active asset management programme.
Boris Schran, Founding Partner and Head of Acquisition and Origination of Peakside Capital, says: “This first UK acquisition for PREF I represents an excellent opportunity to gain exposure to the strong secondary office market in London, the most important office market in Europe. The location hosts many international companies and benefits from excellent transport connections and infrastructure. Together with our local partner Mercer Real Estate, we aim to develop a tailored product for a market with strong fundamentals, leveraging off one of Peakside’s core strengths of value creation through active asset management. We expect to see excellent occupier interest in the building on completion of our redevelopment plan.”
