John Menzies Edinburgh offices sold in major £10m-plus property deal

The Menzies Aviation business operates at more than 210 airports in some 37 countries. Picture: John Menzies

Regional REIT, the stock market-listed real estate investment trust, said it had acquired a “valuable office asset in one of Scotland’s premier business parks”.

The offices comprise 43,676 square feet of space spread over three floors and are currently 100 per cent let to John Menzies, the Edinburgh-headquartered global aviation services group.

Regional REIT, which has paid £10.3m for the property, said the current contracted rent of £880,000 per annum provided a net initial yield of 8 per cent with almost four years to run before the expiry of the lease.

It added: “The office asset is in Edinburgh Park, firmly established as one of Scotland’s key business parks providing more than one million sq ft of office accommodation to over 30 occupiers with excellent connectivity to both Edinburgh city centre and Edinburgh airport.”

Unveiling the deal, Stephen Inglis, chief executive of London and Scottish Property Investment Management, the trust’s asset manager, said: “This is a prime asset in the best position on the internationally renowned Edinburgh business park. It is let to a quality tenant and we have been able to take advantage of uncertainty in the UK political and economic outlook at the time of agreeing this deal.

“This has allowed us to acquire an asset on a park dominated by large institutional investors and a market that was simply not previously within our reach given our investment criteria and returns requirements.

“This acquisition demonstrates our ability to secure deals on favourable terms and offers us an accretive asset management opportunity in the medium term to optimise value for our shareholders. Further, we are delighted to incorporate another major letting to a significant international blue chip tenant within our portfolio.”