Blackrock, the property company spun-off from Fyffes earlier this year, has bought three office buildings in Milton Keynes for €37.5 million.

All three properties, which occupy a total area of 113,350sq ft, are freehold and are fully let to publicly quoted companies, with unexpired lease terms of five to eight years, the company said.

The portfolio generates rent of €2.34 million and provides a net yield of 6.2 per cent, although Blackrock said the yield is expected to rise to 6.6 per cent following rent reviews that are currently outstanding or due in 2007.

Two of the three properties are located within the core business area of central Milton Keynes, with the third property on a 6.5 acre site beside Willen Lake.

With increasingly expensive set-up costs in inner London, Blackrock said Milton Keynes is becoming attractive as an alternative office location in the southeast of England and this was reflected in rents. Milton Keynes is located midway between London and Birmingham.

The latest deal is the second made by the company this month. Earlier in November, Blackrock announced its first property investment in continental Europe when it acquired 90 per cent of a company that owns a substantial warehouse and office portfolio in Brussels in Belgium.

The three transactions announced yesterday take the total investment by Blackrock since its listing in May to €95.5 million, increasing its gross property assets in the period by 48 per cent.

Carl McCann, its chairman, said: "We continue to seek further attractive investment opportunities for the company. Further transactions are being actively pursued at this time and we are hopeful of further announcements in the near term."