LCN Capital Partners Acquires John Wood Group HQ in Aberdeen, Scotland

Newly-Built Office Building Serves as Headquarters for International Energy Services Business, John Wood Group PLC

New York, USA & Aberdeen, Scotland – November 27, 2019 – LCN Capital Partners (“LCN”), a private real estate investment firm and a recognized leader in the primary corporate sale-leaseback and build-to-suit markets, today announced the completion of its acquisition of the Sir Ian Wood House office building in Aberdeen, Scotland. This world-class commercial office building is home to John Wood Group PLC (“Wood Group”), a global multinational energy services company headquartered in the UK, employing more than 60,000 staff in over 60 countries.

The CityPark Business Park property, just south of Aberdeen City Centre, totals more than 216,000 sq ft and is leased to Wood Group for a newly-negotiated period of 15 years. The property, built in 2016 by HFD Group as a build-to-suit HQ office for Wood Group, continues to serve as its de-facto global headquarters. When built, it consolidated seven former sites into the one location.

Edward LaPuma, co-founder of LCN Capital Partners, said: “We have been tracking this opportunity since the building completed in 2016 and are delighted to have completed on the transaction. With a renegotiated lease and more than £6 million of rental income per annum for the next 15 years, CityPark1 will provide our latest fund with secure, long-term income from a strong covenant found in the Wood Group. We continue to seek high quality sale-leaseback and build-to-suit investments in critical corporate properties across the UK and the rest of Europe where we currently have over €1.5 billion of buying power.” This acquisition marks LCN’s third UK investment following the properties let to Lloyds Register and Aker Solutions.

The acquisition is expected to be the largest deal in northeast Scotland in 2019, with Ward Stocker, a Managing Director at LCN, stating: “We are extremely proud of working with both Wood Group and the developer to provide our partners with a secure, long-term income stream.”

Stephen Lewis, managing director of HFD Property Group, said: “The sale of Sir Ian Wood House was a bittersweet moment for HFD, letting go of one of our iconic build to suits.  However, we’ve known LCN for some time and are delighted to assist their business with a successful Aberdeen acquisition. Working with LCN’s professional solution-based approach, has led to a long-term relationship and we look forward to working with them on future single tenant mission critical real estate.”

On opening, Robin Watson, chief executive of Wood Group said: “The consolidation of our Aberdeen offices into Sir Ian Wood House is a critical piece of our continued drive for business and cost efficiencies. By further strengthening our links to clients and enhancing the sharing of best practice across our business, our new Aberdeen offices will help promote new value creation for our clients globally.” Watson further stated, “It is entirely fitting that our new office is named in honour of Sir Ian who laid the strong foundations that remain at the root of Wood Group. Under his guidance and leadership, the company evolved from ship repairing into a major international technical services company. We are extremely proud of our rich heritage and the relentless focus on excellence, which has transformed Wood Group over the last four decades and remains our driver today.”

About John Wood Group PLC

Wood Group is a multinational energy services company, head quartered in Aberdeen, Scotland. The Company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a global leader in the delivery of project, engineering and technical services in energy, industry, and the built environment. The company provides performance-driven solutions across the asset life cycle, from concept to decommissioning across a broad range of industrial markets, including the upstream, midstream and downstream oil & gas; power & industrial; environment & infrastructure; clean energy; mining; nuclear and general industrial sectors. The company reported over $11 billion of revenue over 2018 and employs over 60,000 people in over 60 countries. For more information, please visit: https://www.woodplc.com/.

About LCN Capital Partners

Founded in 2011 by Edward V. LaPuma and Bryan York Colwell, LCN has assets under management in excess of $3.5 billion across its three US Dollar denominated funds, and three Euro denominated funds. Headquartered in New York City, LCN also has offices in London, Amsterdam, Cologne and Luxembourg.

LCN Capital Partners is a recognized leader in the primary sale-leaseback and build-to-suit markets, where investments and leases are directly originated with corporate users of mission critical real estate. LCN delivers a long-term solution for its tenant-clients by providing a non-bank capital resource, efficient monetization of on-balance sheet real estate, continued operational control of key assets, enhanced financial metrics, and potential tax benefits. LCN’s investing partners benefit from the long-term and inflation protected distributions that it supplies. For more information, please visit: https://www.lcnpartners.com/.

Media Contact:

Kevin FitzGerald
Gasthalter & Co.
(212) 257-4170

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