Golding Commercial Properties, in a joint venture with Athanor Offshore Property Investments, has successfully marketed the acquisition of £23 million (about R270 million) of UK commercial properties  internationally.

This is the result of an increasing demand for offshore commercial property investments, which has been brought about through recognition by the international investment community that this form of investment provides secure and rewarding returns - particularly in the current turbulent times.

Peter Golding, chief executive of Golding Commercial Properties, says the UK commercial property market has traditionally been targeted by foreign investors.

"In 2002 foreign private investment totalled £800 million because of its stable returns and attractive property economics - long leases, strong yields, low interest rates, upwards-only rent reviews etc.

"Such commercial properties are sought after as they provide a counter-cycle to equity investments and are backed by cash flows from strong tenants comparable to a corporate bond-style investment.

"The Golding Commercial and Athanor success formula focuses on sourcing buildings with the highest quality property fundamentals such as position, tenant, lease and yield.

"The sourcing and bidding process involves an in-depth analysis of title deeds, valuation reports, financing, tenant track records and credit ratings, and area vacancy rates, among other criteria.

"This complex process is overseen by the joint venture team of Golding Commercial and Athanor together with their alliance partners such as FPDSavills, a leading UK property company, Jones Day, the sixth largest law firm in the world, as well as expert property management companies and reputable financial institutions," said Golding.

Eric Mounier, CEO of Athanor, said: "Our current success arises from our focus on top notch properties with strong fundamentals that will continue to perform well under current market conditions.

"Our ability to obtain such quality property is a result of being recurrent and performing buyers in a close UK commercial property market."

Mounier said that what attracted Southern African and international buyers was the stability of the returns backed by properties in growth market towns surrounding London.

These include Colchester, Bury St Edmonds and Basingstoke, and by strong tenants such as Lloyds Bank, Alliance & Leicester (financial services giant), and WH Smith (the No 1 UK bookstore).

"All this wrapped in 10 years plus leases with interest rates at a 40-year low!" he added.

Current research from FPDSavills indicates that the retail sector of the commercial property market will grow by 6% in 2003.

While the market is slowing as a result of investment market activity slowdown, UK consumer capacity to spend remains resilient.

Overall, the key tenets of the UK commercial property market remain in place.

These include secure long-term income streams capable of being purchased at yields still comfortably in excess of either short or long-term interest rates. - Cape Argus Network