M&G Real Estate has sold the Jealott's Hill International Research Centre & Development Centre in Bracknell in Berkshire, the home of global agrichemical services group Syngenta, for £70 million or a 7% net initial yield.
CBRE has been marketing the campus for sale seeking £72.25 million or a 6.5% net initial yield. The campus has been sold to MUFG or Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the Japanese leading global financial group. Under the terms of the arrangement, Syngenta will remain in occupation as a tenant.
Syngenta has been in occupation at Jealott’s Hill for over 100 years. It occupies 325,671 square feet of laboratory, office and greenhouse space across 10 buildings on a 19.7-acre site.
The site is adjacent to a proposed new build development project, which will allow for Syngenta to establish a central biological sciences laboratory facility at the Jealott’s Hill Science Campus.
The sale adds to a relatively bumper recent run for South East offices investment and in particular science and research space. The largest sale of the previous quarter was Tristan Capital Partners and XLB's acquisition of Cody Technology Park in Farnborough from QinetiQ in a sale-and-leaseback transaction with the science and technology giant for £112 million.