According to media reports, US investors are in talks over buying commercial property space at Trafford Park and Heywood Distribution Park.
The Manchester Evening News (MEN) reports that SEGRO is in talks about selling 2 million square feet of factory and warehouse space at the site as well as a further 2.6 million square feet at Heywood Distribution Park, Middleton. The MEN states that both sites, housing big name brands, are amongst the UK’s industrial property “crown jewels”.
If the deal is agreed, new factories, shops and leisure spaces could be developed. According to the MEN, the sale price is expected to be over £200 million and US private equity firm Harbert Management is believed to be close to closing the deal.
MEN quotes one unnamed source as saying, “They [Harbert] will be looking at redevelopment because there’s a lot of old property there from the 1970s and before. They will also be looking to refurbish the better quality buildings." If the deal is agreed it would be SEGRO’s second sale to Harbert.
SEGRO bought the Trafford Park site in 2009 and announced plans for redevelopment. However, some of these were held up by the recession. SEGRO has said that it believes some parts of the site would be better used as retail or leisure space than for industrial uses.
