Rockspring Property Investment Managers has acquired a portfolio of five office buildings from St Martins for a total consideration of nearly £48 mln (EUR 56 mln), reflecting a blended net initial yield of 8.81%.

The purchases were made on behalf of the Rockspring UK Value Fund, which has acquired a total of £400 mln of assets in the UK in the past 12 months.

The five assets, spread across the Southeast of England, comprise over 252,000 sq ft (23,000 m2) of office accommodation and currently produce a net rental income of £4.79 mln per annum.

They are Gateway, which offers 62,000 sq ft of office space fully let to two tenants, Reed Exhibitions and Clydesdale Bank and a parade of seven retail units; Oriel House, providing 24,000 sq ft of office space fully let to The Listening Company Limited with two retail units let to RBS and Barnard Marcus; Kings House & Conquest House, offering 102,000 sq ft comprising two office buildings, with ancillary ground floor retail units; Hays House Guilford, consisting of 18,000 sq ft office building let to three tenants with 9,000 sq ft vacant accommodation; and Overline House, with 47,000 sq ft office building, which has significant redevelopment potential.

'The properties benefit from strong, strategic locations, with many opportunities for income enhancement through asset management strategies, including potential major redevelopment of parts of the portfolio,' said Richard Bains, Rockspring UK Value Fund Manager. 'There are a number of ways in which we believe we can create value from the portfolio, and therefore deliver strong returns for our investors.'

Rockspring were advised by Montagu Evans and Savills acted for St Martins.