On Thursday, Brookfield Asset Management, the global alternative investments giant that manages more than $600 billion in client assets, announced that one of its private real estate funds has acquired Arlington, a leading U.K. science, innovation, and technology real estate platform, from TPG Real Estate Partners, the property investment platform of global alternative asset firm TPG, for GBP 714 million (about $996 million).
Arlington comprises 36 assets across multiple campus sites in the U.K.’s Oxford-Cambridge-London “Golden Triangle,” Europe’s leading research and development destination, spanning 1.6 million square feet of standing assets and 1 million square feet of near-term development potential.
Brookfield says it plans to leverage its development expertise and global relationships in the sector to further build out centers of excellence, given increasing demand for this fast-growing sector. The acquisition of Arlington complements Brookfield’s 2020 investment in the Harwell Science and Technology Campus located south of Oxford, bringing Brookfield’s footprint in the Golden
Triangle to 1.4 million square feet of operating space.
“Arlington represents a compelling opportunity to expand our presence in the growing European science, innovation and technology real estate sector,” said Brad Hyler, Managing Partner and Head of European Real Estate at Brookfield. “We look forward to supporting Arlington by leveraging our global expertise in managing and developing real estate focused on these dynamic industries and delivering high-quality experiences for our tenants and partners.”
“When we acquired Arlington in 2017, we saw an opportunity to invest behind a high-potential property portfolio that had been adversely impacted by challenging market conditions in the wake of the Brexit vote,” said Michiel Celis, Managing Director at TREP.
“Since then, we have partnered with CEO James Raven to invest heavily in the platform and execute several non-core disposals and strategic add-on acquisitions to re-position the company as one of the largest integrated innovation real estate platforms in the U.K. We’re proud to see Arlington realize its potential and look forward to its continued success under Brookfield’s ownership.”
“Over the last four years, we have worked closely with TREP to invest in our assets to provide high- quality amenities and actively position the portfolio to attract tenants in fast-growing sectors such as innovation, technology, and life sciences. Our track record of growing occupancy by almost 15 percent, achieving double-digit rental growth on new leases, and collecting 100 percent of rents since the onset of COVID is testament to the quality of the platform and the Arlington team,” said Arlington CEO James Raven. “We thank TREP and are excited to partner with Brookfield for the next stage of Arlington’s growth.”
