Strategy

• Taurus acquired Aldwych House, a 163,000 square foot office project located in the mid-town area of central London, for £80 million during the Greek crisis of 2011 in joint venture with Rowan Asset Management and GI Partners with a plan to increase value through strategic repositioning of the property.
• The property was a mismanaged urban asset in a highly desirable and emerging location with a significantly below market rent roll and absentee ownership.
• Through pro-active management, and a significant strategic capital improvement program, Taurus intended to bring the property from a Class B minus to a Class A quality level, and improve the rent-roll in terms of both higher rent (increase rent levels by up to 50%) and higher quality of tenancy (more longer term lease agreements with for-profit tenants).
• The business plan called for a 5-year hold period, and a sale of the property at a price of approximately £900/ sf, or £147,500,000, which would have resulted in an equity multiple of 2.13x and a leveraged return of approximately 16.5%.