Riyadh – Mubasher: Cedar Tree Investments, which is overseen by AIMS Investments, one of Saudi Arabia’s largest private and public equity investors, has purchased four apartment buildings in Manchester in consideration of $49.6 million.

The transaction was funded by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), the UAE’s leading lender said in a recent statement.

The financing deal means that property financing in the UK arranged through ADIB’s office in Knightsbridge, London, has risen to over AED 850 million, secured against property with an aggregate market value of over AED 1.35 billion, ADIB added. 

Cedar bought three buildings in Manchester city centre and one in the Rusholme district close to the city’s main university campuses.

The four buildings comprise 163 freehold rental properties.

Abdulaziz Albassam, CEO of AIMS Investments, said that the deal is “an important step towards realising the investment strategy for Cedar Tree Investments in the UK.”

“We continue to see an increase in demand from Gulf investors, particularly for properties in the regional cities with clients focusing on prime assets providing secure and predictable income streams. We doubled our financing assets in the UK in 2018 with the majority of properties being outside London and we are on track to double the size of the portfolio again in 2019,” Paul Maisfield, head of UK Real Estate at ADIB UK, said.