Wt Wner Usd Regulatory News (WNER)

26 Jan 2006 14:44

Warner Estate Holdings PLC26 January 2006 WARNER ESTATE £12.7MILLION SALE OF REMAINING ASH PORTFOLIO PROPERTIES Warner Estate Holdings PLC ("Warner Estate"), the property investment company,has today announced that it has completed the disposal of the Ash Portfolio withthe sale of the last two properties in Falkirk and Hull. Hansteen Limited has purchased Gilston Park, near Polmon, Falkirk and tensmaller landholdings for £5.1million. Gilston Park extends to circa 87 acres(35.2 hectares) and is subject to an outline planning consent for commercialdevelopment, forming part of a greater masterplan. In North Ferriby, Kingston-upon-Hull, St Modwen Properties PLC has purchased the£7.6million Melton Park, comprising three parcels of land totalling 234.5 acres(94.9 hectares). Planning permission has been granted to develop approximately116 acres (46.9 hectares) of land for offices, industrial or distribution use. These sales are in line with Warner Estate's stated strategy to dispose of thedirectly owned property assets of Ashtenne Holdings Limited ("Ashtenne"),following the purchase of Ashtenne in May 2005. The initial nine properties fromthe Ash Portfolio were sold to Kier Ventures Limited for £9.7m late last yearand the amount received for the whole portfolio exceeds the value attributed tothe assets at the time of acquisition. Michael Stevens, Property Director at Warner Estate commented, " With the completion of the sale of the final Ash Portfolio properties, we arein a better position to focus our attention and skill on expanding our fundmanagement operation through the £929 million Ashtenne Industrial Fund. Thisgrew significantly last year with the £80 million acquisition from our Coreportfolio and the Bareway Fund, our joint venture with Barclays Bank." -ends- Date: 26 January 2006 For further information contact: Warner Estate Holdings PLC City ProfilePhilip Warner, Chairman Simon CourtenayMichael Stevens, Property Director Tel: 020-7488-3244Peter Collins, Finance DirectorTel: 020-7907-5100 Web: www.warnerestate.co.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange