Lloyds Banking Group and Grainger have completed the sale of a 336 asset residential portfolio through their Residential Asset Management Platform.
Grant West Property, a company backed by Sir Tom Hunter and Uberior, the private equity division of HBOS, has been sold for £39.1m to Europa Capital and Addington Capital.
The properties owned by the company are mainly converted houses that are privately let to students across 11 UK cities such as Edinburgh, Newcastle, Bristol, Manchester and Nottingham.
The company was managed by the Residential Asset Management Platform (RAMP). RAMP was set up last year to manage distressed residential assets on which Lloyds owned the debt for them to be asset managed by Grainger and sold on in the open market.
Grant West is a residential property invester that was backed by Scottish entrepreneur Hunter and Uberior. Administrators from Ernst & Young were appointed in April last year. Grant West breached a loan-to-value covenant on the £70m it owed to HBOS.
The company’s initial intention when established in 2007 was to develop a £1bn portfolio, but at its height it only reached a value of abuut £150m.
Addington was set up by former CIT Group directors Martin Roberts and Matthew Allen in 2010. It made its first investment in March, when it bought the Sapphire Retail portfolio with the European Property Investors Special Opportunities Fund for £145m.
Alex Greaves, Grainger’s director of RAMP, said:
“Today’s sale demonstrates the ability of Grainger to identify and secure value in a challenging housing market. The assets disposed comprise an income producing portfolio aimed at the investor seeking critical mass and a stong and robust income stream.
“Despite on-going negative sentiment on the state of economy, we continue to see new investors attracted to the residential market in pursuit of attractive income returns. Grainger clearly provides a valuable service to the market, demonstrated by its success so far in managing assets within RAMP, and we look forward to securing further mandates.”
