Steve Howling, a chartered surveyor with over ten years experience in the commercial property market, has joined Fidelity as a Portfolio Manager on the UK Real Estate Fund. He joins from CBRE Investors where he was an Associate Director and Fund Manager responsible for property acquisitions, disposals and asset management.
Steve will support Alison Puhar, Director, UK Real Estate, in the growth of the UK property portfolio. In the last six months, Fidelity’s UK Real Estate Fund has invested in 10 locations across the UK including office, retail and industrial assets. The latest purchases, totalling £85m, include:
Hercules Portfolio, Midlands: A portfolio of three industrial and three offices located across the Midlands, offering modern buildings and a mixture of good quality tenants including Severn Trent, Allied Dunbar and Staffordshire Police Authority with an average 8.8 years to lease expiry. The portfolio provides strong asset management opportunities in the short term, and the purchase price of £22.7 million reflects a net initial yield of 8.9%.
200 Berkshire Place, Winnersh Triangle, Reading: This modern office building was purchased at an attractive running yield of 9.3% and is let to The Sage Group plc on a lease to 2025 with a break in 2016. The property was purchased for £20.1 million.
HamiltonPalaceTowers, Hamilton, Scotland: Acquired for £17.4 million, this is a mixed retail and leisure scheme near the centre of Hamilton with a strong tenant line up, including Next, Boots and Vue cinema. The price reflects an initial yield of 6.6% on the base income.
Holland House, Bournemouth: A modern office building let to the Government until 2028, with a tenant break in 2021. At the acquisition price of £12.9 million, the net initial yield is 6.9%. The building is let on a low rent and offers longer term alternative use potential.
These acquisitions add further diversification to the existing UK portfolio and reflect a continuing drive to purchase high quality assets with strong income profiles, backed up by strong tenants.
In addition, as part of Fidelity’s ongoing commitment to client service, Lynne Henderson joins as Marketing Manager within the European Real Estate team. Lynne will support Adrian Benedict, Investment Director, in servicing real estate clients. She was previously a Marketing Associate within the Real Estate team at ING and has worked within the finance and real estate industry for over five years.
“We have consistently grown our team over the past four years, when many of our competitors were doing the opposite, and delivered very strong performance for our clients. We remain fully committed to continually enhancing our real estate team and view these additions as crucial to our commitment to continuing to deliver strong investment performance and ensuring excellent client service,” said Neil Cable, Head of European Real Estate.
