Prime UK commercial buildings remain to be in high demand among investors and yield sound returns, says Eric Mounier, CE of a JV between Athanor Investments and Pam Golding Commercial. A recently acquired prime commercial property situated opposite Marks & Spencer in the affluent town of High Wycombe, just 50km north west of central London, has been sold giving returns in excess of 20 percent per annum - well in excess of the projected returns of 11 percent per annum.

Says Mounier: "After surrendering the only short lease in this property, we recently re-tenanted it with a new 15 year lease to a top quality tenant, Game Station Ltd. Through sound management in securing this strong tenant, which is a subsidiary of Blockbusters Ltd and has a Dunn & Bradstreet rating of 5A1, and considering the property market in High Wycombe, our opinion was to trigger the disposal of the property earlier than anticipated in order to crystallise the return. Having been able to add exceptional value to the building, the property, which was originally intended to be retained for a five year period, has now been sold within two years of the investors acquiring it," he says.

Concurrent with the sale of the High Wycombe property the JV has acquired a superbly positioned high street property in Wales, with very strong tenants and a long lease of 15 years. As the previous investors of the former building have invested directly into the new commercial investment, situated at 170/173 Commercial Street in Newport, a limited amount of space is available to new investors, priced from just GBP25 000, says Mounier.

This is the Athanor/Pam Golding Commercial JV's second Welsh High Street property following the highly successful Lloyd's Bank investment in Wrexham.

Located in a central position in the premier retailing location, the Newport property - which comprises four well sized commercial units set in an exquisite period building - faces Marks & Spencer, Barclays Bank and British Home Stores. Newport has a zero vacancy retail city centre.

Exceptional tenants, with long fully repairing and insuring leases, include Signet Group Plc (UK), a public company listed on the London and New York stock exchanges and with a top 5A1 credit rating with Dunn & Bradstreet; and H Samuel Ltd, also with a top 5A1 credit rating. The rent is subject to five-yearly upward only reviews. A key benefit to investors is access to non-recourse bank finance at a fixed interest rate, eliminating the risk of interest rate fluctuations.

Adds Mounier: "Given the low risk environment and conservative assumptions used to determine the returns - projected at 11.2 percent per annum or 50 percent over 4.5 years - we believe this to be an attractive, secure and rewarding opportunity. It is important to note that these returns are net of costs and UK income tax, and to bear in mind that UK commercial property is attracting large scale institutional investment on predicts of a strong performance in the medium term."

Wales has one of the most developed business infrastructures in Europe.

Newport, Wales' third largest city, is a vibrant, forward thinking city steeped in a rich industrial heritage and an ideal place to work and live.

It has one of the most impressive inward investment records in the UK and has a prosperous future with exciting development opportunities.