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Abbey National New Tenant in Own Offices.
Birmingham Post
1 Jan 2001
Forty Abbey National offices across the West Midlands, 15 of them in Birmingham, will change hands under an elaborate sale and lease-back deal involving nearly all the former building society's property portfolio.
Abbey National will secure a �70 million profits for this year by selling the properties for �457 million to Mapeley Columbus, a company owned by Fortress Investment, Soros Real Estate Partners and Delancey Estates.
It will then lease them back for rent that is to rise by 3 per cent a year on terms that enable Abbey National to move out of the properties, or exchange them for others.
A spokeswoman insisted that this was not a prlude to a programme of branch closures. She said: "There is no hidden agenda. We have got an immediate benefit.
"We have got a lot of certainty, with options to mobe, some in three years, some in five, some in 20.
"There is an agreed deal for breaking the leases. It is an opportunity to say 'Our branch is now on the wrong side of town'."
The portfolio includes its flagship head office in Baker Street in London's West End, which it had already decided to leave next year because of its small size.
Mark Pain, Abbey National finance director, said: "The key financial benefits are linked to the cost-effective operational flexibility we have secured in the longer term."
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