Max Property Group buys 10 office properties from UBS Triton for £36.5 mln cash

Max Property Group (AIM: MAX) has acquired ten office properties from UBS Triton Property Fund (UBS Triton) for £36.5 million plus acquisition costs.

The group will buy nine freehold and one peppercorn leasehold investments for a contract price of £36.5 million. The vendor is placing £5.9 million in an escrow account, which can be drawn by Max against irrecoverable outgoings in respect of vacant accommodation up to the end of 2012.

Most of the properties are air-conditioned and located in 1980s business parks predominantly in the South East. The 760,000 sq ft (square feet) portfolio produces a rent roll of £5.0 million pa (per annum) and is 46% vacant by floor area, with a rental value on the vacant space of circa £3.5 million per annum. The net initial yield on the transaction is 12.7%.

The total cash requirement of £38.9 million will be paid from the group’s cash resources.

Max reported a cash balance of £113 million in its interim results statement as at 30 September 2009.  Adjusting for this acquisition and for the disposal of Southwood Business Park which was announced on 30 December 2009 and which completed on 21 January 2010, the group's pro forma cash balance is about £84 million and net debt amounts to about £36 million.  http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/12587/max-property-group-buys-10-office-properties-from-ubs-triton-for-365-mln-cash--12587.html