Hansteen sells off UK industrial property fund for £146m

Real estate investment group Hansteen Holdings has disposed of a portfolio of UK multi-let industrial properties in two transactions worth a combined £146.1m.

A total of 41 assets in the Hansteen UK Industrial Property Unit Trust (HPUT) have been sold to a fund advised by Brockton Capital in a partnership with Dunedin Property for £110.5m.

Meanwhile, a separate joint venture between Brockton and Hansteen has bought the Saltley Business Park in Birmingham for £35.6m.

HPUT was launched in July 2009 "to take advantage of the economic downturn which had resulted in high levels of distress throughout the sector", explained Hansteen UK director Mark Ovens.

The fund, which was set up with £90m of equity from Hansteen and five institutional investors, ceased buying properties in December 2011. The 42 assets owned by HPUT had a combined floor area of 3.04m square feet and a passing rent of £10m per annum.

"It is tremendously satisfying to have launched the Fund, met the investment return objectives and returned the capital to unitholders within the timescale envisaged at the outset," Ovens said.