Cordatus Makes the Grade with Mapeley Alpha Portfolio
Cordatus Real Estate, the UK asset and development management specialist, has completed deals on 50% of Mapeley’s 20 site Alpha Portfolio, disposing of 10 properties for a total of £62 million and achieving 41.0% ahead of book value.
Cordatus, which has established a strong track record in workout instructions, was appointed by Jones Lang LaSalle acting as LPA Receivers in July 2012. Now, 18 months into the instruction, it is half way through an intensive asset management programme to achieve maximum returns on the total portfolio of 20 secondary office buildings spread across the UK, from Croydon to Edinburgh.
Cordatus was tasked with maximising the value of the portfolio through proactive asset management and strategic sales.
In London, the sales include Hercules House (a 130,000 sq ft office building dating from the mid 1950s in Waterloo, Lambeth where the property was let to the UK Government for a further 12 months) and Delta Point, the 250,000 sq ft vacant former BT offices in Croydon. The other eight sites sold include properties in Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Ilford, Peterborough and Sheffield.
Michael Cunningham, Director at Cordatus, said: “Achieving sales proceeds of 41% ahead of book value with secondary office stock and in very challenging market conditions is testament to the effectiveness of the Cordatus approach. We bring our detailed market knowledge and wealth of accumulated experience to bear on creating the right strategies for specific assets. These results achieved at the mid-point with this portfolio are impressive and show what can be done when the right approach is applied.”
