"Opportunities such as Blythe Valley Park don't come around often," says Andrew Blevins, managing director of the Liberty Property UK entity that acquired the 257-acre park. Not only does Blevins maintain that Liberty's expertise in managing such assets makes for a good fit as it seeks to expand those services in the country, he notes that Doughty Hanson and his firm have an established relationship. The partners also recently acquired the 19-building, 535,000-sf Kents Hill business park in the city of Kent on England's southeast coast.

The latest transaction, in which Doughty Hanson will contribute about 80% and Liberty the remainder, brings the amount invested in the Doughty Hanson & Co. European Real Estate Fund II to $532.5 million. The eight commitments made to date consume close to half the equity available after Fund II closed with a pool of $1.2 billion.

Blythe Valley Park is the "premier business park…in the Birmingham area," says Doughty Hanson principal Kevin Grundy. The chief of the UK region says he believes the park can be further enhanced by both the new construction and improvements to existing stock. Blythe Valley "offers an attractive mix of value enhancement opportunities and future development potential within an established, prominent location," says Grundy. Created in partnership with the Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, Blythe Valley Park was originally a venture between US REIT ProLogis and British Land plc before the latter firm bought out Denver-based ProLogis in 2003. The complex is located at Junction 4 of the M42 Highway, a major Midlands thoroughfare.