Severn Trent to sell £400m of property

Severn Trent is to sell up to £400m worth of property over the next five years, providing land for up to 10,000 new homes across the water company’s supply region in the Midlands.

The company has appointed Capita to manage its property portfolio and maximise returns across its 7,000 UK sites.

The eight-year contract, worth £8 million plus variable fees and gainshare agreements on high profile sites, will see Capita undertake the management, promotion and disposal of Severn Trent’s property portfolio where properties are no longer required for its operations to generate capital return.

The sites vary from large waste water treatment plants to office blocks and pumping stations and will be sold directly by private treaty or at auction.

Severn Trent’s head of property Ted Pearce said: “Maximising the value of our substantial asset base is crucial to ensure that we can continue to operate and invest in new technology and infrastructure. Capita will play a key role over the next eight years in ensuring that our diverse portfolio delivers the best possible value for Severn Trent.”

“As a company we look at the best way to maximise our return from our property portfolio every year, with sales ranging from larger sites to our recent online sale of five small former reservoir sites for ‘Grand Design’ style projects,” he added.

“This is something we do regularly and the recent announcement about a potential partnership with Capita is simply designed to allow us to work on this with a single partner for the next year. When we do successfully sell sites, of whatever size, we retain some of the proceeds and use the remainder for the benefit of our customers.”

Capita Real Estate head of corporate sector Jeremy Day said: “We look forward to working closely with Severn Trent to manage its entire property portfolio, deliver as much value as possible, and enable it to release £400 million over the next five years.”