News on 11 September 2000
Mapeley has
been named as preferred bidder to acquire and manage Abbey National Group’s
entire property estate for a term believed to be 20 years (see
News story). The company, which is already preferred bidder for the
Inland Revenue/Customs & Excise STEPS property outsourcing deal, beat
rival bidder Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund, in alliance with property
company London & Regional.
Commenting on the announcement, Robin Priest, Chief Executive of Mapeley
said: "Mapeley is very pleased to have the opportunity to build a
partnership with such a high quality client. We would like to congratulate
Abbey National and Ernst & Young on the quality of the engineering
and execution of the transaction."
Abbey National said that in addition to bid value, the selection was made
on a combination of the management strength and operational flexibility
required by the bank.
Although Abbey National has previously said FM is not part of the deal
Mapeley confirmed that it would be managing the properties. The bank foresees
no branch closures or redundancies as a result of this deal and says the
sale and leaseback of its property portfolio is consistent with the recently
announced plan to trial a limited form of franchising in its branches:
"It can be seen as another example of centrally procured services
of which the franchisees can take advantage."
