A buyer has gone under offer on a bellwether prime regional offices sale for close to the £78 million asking price, CoStar News can reveal.
Investment business Ashtrom Properties UK is in pole position to buy M&G's Leeds office scheme Central Square, according to market sources tracking the transaction.
Ashtrom is understood to have beaten close to 10 bidders for the 240,000-square-foot Leeds scheme at a price that reflects a net initial yield of around 8%.
Asset manager M&G put the property on the block for £78 million earlier this year. CoStar data shows that M&G bought the site, which is a five-minute walk from Leeds station, for circa £10 million from Roydhouse Properties Central Square in 2014. Savills is instructed on the sale.
CBRE and Knight Frank are thought to be advising Ashtrom.
Should the deal go through, it would be one of the largest office sales in the city for some time, as well as across the regions more widely, and is one of a number of landmark offices schemes being sold by institutional investment giant M&G. Success achieving close to the asking price will be a boost for the UK office market generally.
Other large regional offices put in the shop window by M&G include Birmingham's Two Snowhill, where the business is seeking offers in excess of £100 million, reflecting a net yield of 9%. JLL is instructed on the 310,000-square-foot scheme.
It is also marketing 101 Embankment in Manchester. The group has instructed CBRE to sell the 171,000-square-foot offices for bids in excess of £80 million, or a 8.45% net yield.
The offer for Central Square provides an additional sign that Ashtrom is trying to strengthen its activities in key regional cities after it submitted planning in August of last year to increase the height of Birmingham's Colmore Gate building to 26 storeys, from 17 storeys.
That, however, was refused by Birmingham Council in February over concerns about the prospective structure's height and impact on nearby heritage buildings. The plans also included a 10-storey "shoulder building" to provide additional office accommodation, while the site would include retail space at street level.
Ashtrom was approached for comment, while M&G and Savills declined to comment.
