Wt Wner Usd Regulatory News (WNER)

29 Nov 2005 09:07

Warner Estate Holdings PLC29 November 2005 Warner Estate Holdings PLC WARNER ESTATE BUYS PRINCIPAL PORTFOLIO FROM CIS FOR £159 MILLION Warner Estate Holdings PLC ("Warner Estate"), the property investment company,has today, announced the purchase of the Principal Portfolio from theCo-operative Insurance Society (CIS) for £159 million. The portfolio comprises seven regional office investments throughout the UK, TheRoyals Shopping Centre in Southend and seven smaller office properties totalling£172 million, together with 105 leasehold liability properties accounting for£13 million. The seven regional office investments are being purchased by Warner Estate andMorley Fund Management's ("Morley") newly created Apia Regional Office Fund ("Apia"). Apia, a specialist property fund, was established in June this year toinvest in large office properties in major regional towns throughout the UK.Warner Estate is responsible for property asset management and Morley isresponsible for the fund management and regulatory issues. The seven regional office investments are in Aberdeen, Brighton, Glasgow,Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Preston The Royals Shopping Centre in Southend comprises 24,755 sq m (266,470 sq ft) andkey retailers include Tesco, Littlewoods, TK Maxx, Debenhams and Boots. Theshopping centre and other properties will be held in Warner Estate's whollyowned Core portfolio. Michael Stevens, Operations Director at Warner Estate commented: "The acquisitions are a significant first step in expanding the £261 millionApia Fund towards our stated goal of £750 million under management by 2008. Thepurchase of The Royals Shopping Centre also follows our strategy of rebalancingthe retail weighting in our Core portfolio. There are also substantialopportunities throughout the Principal Portfolio to enhance returns throughactive asset management." Stephan Pater, Chief Operating Officer for CIS, commented: "This sale has provided a number of positive benefits for our business. As partof our comprehensive modernisation programme it helps us realise our improvedcustomer service model which focuses on teams of local financial advisers backedup by modern, centralised customer contact and support centres. "At the same time we have used this opportunity to release a number ofinvestment properties, in support of our planned re-balancing of the CISproperty portfolio, which Axa REIM manage on our behalf." Sian Humphrey, Fund Manager for Apia at Morley Fund Management commented: "The Apia Fund was only launched in June so this acquisition is a great steptowards achieving our goal of growing the Fund. The portfolio we have acquiredis in line with the Fund's investment focus and on completion we will own 20offices bringing the total assets to £380m. The Fund offers investors theopportunity of a diversified exposure to regional offices through an activelymanaged portfolio of properties in major regional centres." - ends - Date: 29th November 2005 Warner Estate Holdings PLC City Profile Philip Warner, Chairman Simon CourtenayRichard Moore, Property Director Tel: 020-7488-3244Peter Collins, Finance DirectorMichael Stevens, Operations DirectorTel: 020-7907-5100 Web: www.warnerestate.co.uk Morley Fund Management Sian Humphrey, Fund ManagerTel: 020-7809 8076 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange