Kadans Science Partner will add Windrush Court in Oxford, UK to its Pan-European portfolio. The asset will be acquired from Oxford Biomedica in a sale and lease back transaction. Windrush Court is a c.75,000 sq ft building which will be leased back, in its entirety, to Oxford Biomedica. Oxford Biomedica works across key viral vector delivery systems, providing innovative solutions to cell and gene therapy biotechnology and biopharma companies.
Oxford is a global centre of excellence in life science innovation. The cluster is anchored by the University of Oxford which was recently named the number 1 university in the world (Times World University Ranking 2022). The Oxford cluster spans a whole range of life sciences enterprise including drug discovery, diagnostics, medical devices, regenerative medicine and genomics. With world leading academics, researchers and clinicians, Oxford continues to be at the forefront of scientific innovation.
James Sheppard, Managing Director (UK & Ireland) said: ‘We are delighted to secure this tremendously important asset in the Oxford ecosystem. Oxford Biomedica is one of the world’s leading companies in cell & gene therapy, an area of deep specialism for Kadans, and we look forward to building a relationship with the team.’
Stuart Paynter, Chief Financial Officer of Oxford Biomedica, commented: “We are pleased to have exchanged contracts for the sale and leaseback of our state-of-the-art Windrush Court facility and look forward to building a relationship with Kadans, the European leader in the development and management of life sciences buildings and ecosystems. The proceeds of the transaction will enhance our net cash position, providing us with additional financial flexibility as we build our leadership as an innovation-led CDMO across all viral vectors for cell and gene therapy.”
Andrew Lockhart, Senior Director of CBRE Oxford office and Life Sciences Division commented ‘We are delighted to have advised Oxford Biomedica in the sale of Windrush Court to Kadans. It represents a highlight in the Oxford property market and the strength of the Life Sciences sector, which will allow both Oxford Biomedica and Kadans to strength their relative positions in this exciting and growth market’.
Freddie Owen, Partner at Knight Frank, commented: ‘Knight Frank are delighted to have advised Kadans on the acquisition of Oxford Biomedica’s Headquarters. Windrush Court is a high quality life science laboratory & office facility and a great addition to the existing Kadans portfolio.’
With the acquisition of Windrush Court, Oxford, the Kadans portfolio now consists of over 50 buildings and numerous projects under development in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, France and Spain. Kadans aspires to partner with universities, venture capital firms and innovative organisations to create one strong knowledge-sharing ecosystem of scientific enterprise across Europe.
Kadans was supported in this transaction by Knight Frank, and Mills & Reeve acted as legal advisors for Kadans. CBRE advised the vendor and Plainlaw acted as legal advisors.
About Kadans Science Partner
Kadans Science Partner is the European leader investing in the development of ecosystems and real estate with a dedicated focus on the knowledge intensive sector. Kadans has invested across various specific areas, like agri-tech in Wageningen, life sciences in Leiden, and cell & gene therapy in Stevenage, UK. Kadans provides its tenants with an array of additional services tailored to their specific needs. In December 2020, Kadans was acquired by AXA IM Alts, which, as a long-term capital partner, has allowed us to significantly accelerate our growth.
Kadans is currently present on 26 campuses, in 7 countries, where it operates over 8 million sq ft of space for over 450 tenants, including start-ups, scale-ups, corporates, government bodies and educational institutes. Kadans has a solid view of the developments our tenants and partners are currently working on and which parties in our network could benefit from connecting.
About Oxford Biomedica
Oxford Biomedica (LSE:OXB) is an innovative, leading viral vector specialist focused on delivering life-changing therapies to patients.
Oxford Biomedica works across key viral vector delivery systems including those based on lentivirus, adeno-associated virus (AAV) and adenovirus, providing innovative solutions to cell and gene therapy biotechnology and biopharma companies for their process development, analytical development and manufacturing needs. Oxford Biomedica has built a sector leading lentiviral vector delivery system, LentiVector® platform, and is working on programmes from pre-clinical to commercial stage across a range of therapeutic areas with global partners.
Oxford Biomedica is based across several locations and headquartered in Oxfordshire, UK. In 2022, the company established Oxford Biomedica Solutions, a US based subsidiary AAV manufacturing and innovation business, based near Boston, US.
Further information is available at www.oxb.com