Joint venture partners Invesco Real Estate and PLATFORM_ have sold a build-to-rent (BTR) portfolio to LRC Group in an off-market transaction for an undisclosed price.
The portfolio comprises five residential buildings located in Exeter, Stevenage, Bedford, Bracknell and Crawley offering 608 residential apartments and commercial space.
All five assets were converted from office to residential use under permitted development rights in 2016-17 by PLATFORM_. Invesco formed a joint venture with PLATFORM_ in 2017 to acquire an interest in the buildings.
Tom McFerran, director – fund management at Invesco Real Estate, said: “We are pleased to announce the successful sale of our residential portfolio, which we have actively developed as part of our strategic business plan. Invesco Real Estate have invested €1.2bn into the residential sector over the past two years, and this successful disposal underlines our commitment to creating premium housing and delivering value for our stakeholders. We will continue to pursue our objective of creating high-quality communities and exploring new growth opportunities.”
Jean-Marc Vandevivere, chief executive of PLATFORM_, added: “This sale marks the successful conclusion of our joint venture with Invesco after 7.5 years. We are proud of the performance PLATFORM_ has delivered over that period as JV partner, asset manager and property manager.
“These sites were amongst the first institutional BTR assets to be developed in the UK, and the first nationally branded portfolio. At PLATFORM_ we’re continuing to expand our portfolio of ground-up BTR developments of scale in key urban centres across the UK, including the launch of our new scheme in Edinburgh earlier this month.”
Guy Stebbings, head of operational BTR at Knight Frank, which advised the joint venture partners on the sale, said: “We are delighted to have advised the Invesco-PLATFORM_ JV on the disposal of this significant BTR portfolio across the South of England. The repurposing of existing assets is a crucial model if we are to reach the housing delivery goals that the government is setting out. The quality of these conversions is clearly critical, but we are delighted to see institutional capital acquiring this type of product at scale.”
Kellie Hatton, partner at Shoosmiths, which provided legal advice to the JV partners, added: “This transaction involved complex residential assets, so getting the deal across the line required a multi-disciplinary legal team working seamlessly with the JV team and Knight Frank – a fantastic team effort.”
