Reading Park owner sold to Oz firm

AUSTRALIAN property and construction group Lend Lease has expanded its British operations, paying £294m for business parks operator Akeler.

Akeler has 13 assets in its portfolio, spread from Britain to Germany and Portugal. The biggest is the Reading International Business Park, and other UK assets include developments in Marlow, Bracknell, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow.

Lend Lease, which developed the Bluewater complex in Kent and owns construction firm Bovis, made the purchase through its Lend Lease Global Properties unit.

The sale is believed to have been affected by the collapse of Akeler's biggest tenant at Reading, embattled US telco WorldCom. Analysts believe that problem reduced the sale price by £100m.