Contact:

assist­ance in English

e-mail: maria@skalar.biz

skype: ­­ skalar_english

assistance in Polish

SKALAR
ul. Obwodowa 31A/F8
84-240 Reda
Poland
tel.: +48 058 740 54 10
fax: +48 058 740 54 11
tax number: PL 841-121-57-69
REGON: 771277167

Lloyds TSB (LLOY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) could net around half a million pounds each from the sale of surplus branches from its UK town centre property portfolio via Britain's stock-starved commercial property auction market.

Sales data from some of the UK's biggest auctioneers shows many former bank premises were still attracting buyers who planned to convert the well-located buildings into shops or restaurants, despite broader real estate market gloom.

Lloyds is mulling how many of its new 3,000-strong branch network it may be forced to close following its 12.2 billion pound ($22.50 billion) takeover of HBOS (HBOS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) but auction experts said it may be buoyed by prices it could achieve in the auction room.

"Barclays started selling off vacant branches around 18 months ago and it's been a huge success," said George Walker, a partner at Britain's biggest auction house Allsop LLP.

Auctioneers at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) sold a former Barclays (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research) bank in West Sussex, southern England for 418,000 pounds at its May auction and another vacant branch in Chislehurst, Greater London in July for 615,000 pounds.

"Although we have no way of knowing how big or small the lot sizes might be, any properties surplus to requirements could be in the price bracket of 100,000 to 750,000 pounds," said John Townsend, head of auctions at Cushman & Wakefield.

Lloyds may opt to offer surplus properties as part of a portfolio but Townsend said selling each lot individually could achieve a higher overall price, by helping to avoid portfolio discounts or time-consuming renegotiations that were common in today's uncertain market.

HOW MANY?

A weekend report claimed Lloyds had approached a number of property consultants to seek advice on how to offload up to 700 UK branches but a spokeswoman for the cash-rich bank said it had not made any decisions on branch closures.

"It is just far too early to put any kind of figure on that at this stage," the spokeswoman told Reuters. "As a combined group, the branch network will obviously be much bigger...and it would be fair to say that we will have to review operations but there are no imminent changes planned," she added.

Like many British banks and building societies, Lloyds and HBOS have used public auctions to dispose of occupational property but the spokeswoman said it was premature to speculate on how a new batch of surplus branches might be sold off.

James Cannon, head of commercial auctions at Savills (SVS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said banks often turned to auctions to help unlock value in their estates by offering select sale-and-leaseback properties as well as vacant lots.

"The main issue for most retailers and banks at the moment, is how to manage escalating costs," said Cannon.

"If you're in a smaller town seeing less growth, then it might make sense to sell off property you own, bring cash back into the core business and take a lease," he said.

Source: http://uk.reuters.com/