Marylebone Warwick Balfour Group Plc has announced the sale of its 86 year leasehold interest in Marble Arch Tower, a central London 161,500 sq ft office, leisure and retail complex, to the Railways Pension Fund for £73.55m in cash.
Prominently located at the junction of Marble Arch, Edgware Road and Oxford Street, the mixed use building comprises approximately 95,000 sq ft of offices, a 43,000 sq ft Odeon Cinema and 23,000 sq ft of retail space, including a 6,000 sq ft Sainsbury Local and a 6,400 sq ft J D Weatherspoon pub.
Office tenants include Mitchells & Butler, the pub group, and MWB Business Exchange, which occupies approximately 29,000 sq ft within the building. Marble Arch Tower currently generates £4.6m of annual rents.
After costs, net proceeds will be used to repay the entire £53m Anglo Irish Bank loan drawn down to acquire Marble Arch Tower, with the balance of £18.4m being used to further reduce Group borrowings.
MWB acquired Marble Arch Tower in January 2001. Since then MWB has improved the tenant profile of the multi-let complex and generally upgraded the building. The sale generates a net profit of approximately £6.6m over the £64.8m book value and this will be included in the accounts for the year ending 30th June 2004.
Source: MWB
