The Industrial Agency team of Knight Frank in Cardiff has brokered the sale of three properties for the fast-expanding healthcare products manufacturer BBI Group.
It has sold Units 6 and 15 at Gilchrist Thomas Industrial Estate in Blaenavon to GOS Tool & Engineering Services Ltd for £600,000, and an office and laboratory at Golden Gate, Llanishen, for £730,000.
The BBI Group, which has manufactured products for some of the world’s leading diagnostic and healthcare organisations for over 25 years, is investing £14m to centralise manufacturing from the three sites into a single new global headquarters to boost capacity and long-term growth at Pen y fan.
Ceri Phillips, Global Head of Supply Chain at BBI, said: “It was essential that we disposed of our South Wales facilities in a timely manner and in line with our overall project plan. Knight Frank was great in terms of delivering the leaseback option for us.”
Neil Francis, who heads the Knight Frank industrial agency team in Cardiff, said: “BBI identified last year that sales of their properties would be required by Quarter 1 2018. We targeted those purchasers who were willing to consider a short-term leaseback arrangement to give BBI the flexibility they required – a satisfactory result on both sides.”
GOS Tool & Engineering, which is buying the two units totalling 36,694 sq ft at Blaenavon, specialises in converting vehicles such as excavators and commercial lorries to run on rail lines for the railway industry.
Director Neil Gregory said: “We have been in Blaenavon for 50 years and employ 110 people in the town and the new units, which are close to our existing manufacturing site, will enable us to continue to expand.”
The 10,917 sq ft Golden Gate building in Llanishen has been sold to a private investor, which was advised in the transaction by Savills.
BBI will lease the building back for an initial period while it finalises its move to its new Pen y fan site.