Legal & General purchases three West End offices

Legal & General’s UK Property Trust has celebrated its 1 year anniversary by purchasing 3 West End offices:

The long leasehold interest in 66-67 Newman Street was acquired from Morley Pooled Pensions Limited. The property is newly refurbished and comprises of 14,400 sq. ft. let to MacGrath & Co Solicitors until 2016, at a rent of £585,000 per annum.

22 Buckingham Gate is an attractive Grade II listed building providing short term income with the opportunity to improve the quality of the property and manage the leases. The property was acquired from Standard Life at a price of £4.8m and comprises 6,870 sq. ft. and is multi-let with 2 refurbished floors available to let.

46 Bedford Square was acquired from Conygar Bedford Square Limited for £4.6m. The property comprises of 7,430 sq. ft. and is let to Hodder & Stoughton Ltd on a rent of £215,000 per annum. The Property is Grade I listed and provides extremely prominent and attractive accommodation.

During its first year the Fund has doubled in size to £211m and continues to attract new cash investment, with a significant majority coming from retail investors.

Fund Manager, Michael Barrie commented, "The continued new investment into the Fund is testimony to the appeal of the Fund to the retail investor. These recent purchases meet with our strategy to take an overweight position in the West End and Mid-town.”

On last week’s budget Michael also added, “the changes proposed by the treasury on tax treatment will put Authorised Property Unit Trusts on a level playing field with REITs. We will await the full consultation paper with interest.”

To date the Fund has undertaken 16 property transactions amounting to £91m.

Target acquisitions for 2007 include a specific focus on retail warehouse schemes and London offices, with a target lot size of £8m to £20m.