Real estate funding specialist ASK Partners (ASK) has provided a senior loan to a JV between pioneering investment company, Lateral and property investment and development firm, Amazon Capital to fund the first life science sector acquisition of Amazon Property’s new £250m fund, announced in April this year.
The loan is secured against Mortlock House, a 31,248 sq ft vacant office building set on a 1.3-acre site with 128 car parking spaces, situated in Histon, a fast growing, science research and development hub outside Cambridge, with easy access to Cambridge’s main science park, city centre and train station.
The loan facility has been provided to fund the acquisition of the building and the refurbishment costs of converting the building into a turnkey fitted lab and office space to suit all sized life science tenant requirements. Developer and asset manager Lateral is due to complete the scheme in Q1 2023.
Rob Beacroft, director at Lateral, said, “We are delighted to have been able to secure financing with ASK for the acquisition and refurbishment of this site.
“This is our second life science transaction with ASK; they have a strong commercial understanding of our approach and the market.”
Joshua Weinstein, head of institutional markets, ASK added: “The life science sector now employs 250,000 people in the UK and generates £81bn in revenue annually.
“Unsurprisingly we are seeing a huge increase in life science real estate financing opportunities. Active demand for life science lab space in Cambridge currently exceeds 1m sq ft making the conversion of this well-located vacant office building very compelling.
“The parties in this JV have an excellent track record and a robust business plan to deliver on this scheme.
“It was a pleasure to work with all parties on this transaction and with Lateral again, following the loan against a site in Whitechapel for lab conversion at the beginning of the year.”
Chris Lanitis, founder and chief investment officer at Amazon Capital, concluded: “We are delighted to have secured the first of many life science investments following the launch of our £250m fund.
“Life science is a sector we believe in with robust fundamentals and we have every faith in Lateral’s sector expertise to mitigate risk and maximise returns.
“This marks our second JV with Lateral, the first being a value-add managed office space in the South Bank.
“We have also known the senior management team at ASK prior to them founding the business, and they have been instrumental in a number of our transactions over the past 15 years.”
