LONDON, 2015-8-3— /EPR Retail News/ — British Land announces that it has exchanged contracts for the sale of 39 Victoria Street, SW1 to Singaporean property company Ho Bee Land for a gross purchase price of £144 million (net price of c. £139 million after deduction of rent free top up). Ho Bee Land is quoted on the mainboard of the Singapore Exchange and owns assets in London including 1 St Martin’s Le Grand, 60 St Martin’s Lane and Rose Court.
39 Victoria Street is a 10 storey office building, totalling 98,000 sq ft including retail space on the ground floor. It was acquired by British Land in 2009 for £40 million and was substantially refurbished in 2013. It is let in its entirety to The Corporate Officer of The House of Commons until September 2029 with a break in July 2026 at a total rent of c. £6 million per annum.
This transaction is in line with our capital recycling strategy and comes three months after the acquisition of One Sheldon Square at Paddington Central, where we are on site at 4 Kingdom Street and progressing our plans to improve the public realm.
Tim Roberts, Head of Offices at British Land, said:
“39 Victoria Street has been a good investment for us and is an excellent example of how we do business. Our refurbishment delivered a high quality building and attracted a high calibre occupier on a profitable lease. The timing of the disposal allows us to benefit from strong investment markets, and to allocate capital most appropriately across our business.”
Mayer Brown and Knight Frank acted for British Land.
| Enquiries: | |
| Investor Relations | |
| Sally Jones, British Land | 020 7467 2942 |
| Media | |
| Pip Wood, British Land | 020 7467 2838 |
| Guy Lamming, Finsbury | 020 7251 3801 |
| Gordon Simpson, Finsbury |
About British Land
We are one of Europe’s largest publicly listed real estate companies. We own, manage, develop and finance a portfolio of high quality commercial property, focused on retail locations around the UK and London offices. We have total assets in the UK, owned or managed of £18.9 billion (of which British Land share is £13.6 billion), as valued at 31 March 2015. Our properties are home to over 1,200 different organisations ranging from international brands to local start-ups. Our objective is to deliver long-term and sustainable total returns to our shareholders and we do this by focusing on Places People Prefer. People have a choice where they work, shop and live and we aim to create outstanding places which make a positive difference to people’s everyday lives. Our customer orientation enables us to develop a deep understanding of the people who use our places. We employ a lean team of experts, who have the skills to translate this understanding into creating the right places, and we have an efficient capital structure which is able to effectively finance these places.
UK Retail assets account for 55% of our portfolio. As the UK’s largest listed owner and manager of retail space, our portfolio is well matched to the different ways people shop today. We are focused on being the destination of choice for retailers and their customers by being the best provider of spaces and services. Comprising around 22 million sq ft of retail space across shopping parks, superstores, shopping centres, department stores and leisure assets, the retail portfolio is modern, flexible and adaptable to a wide range of formats.
Our Office and Residential portfolio, which accounts for 45% of our portfolio is focused on London. We have an attractive mix of high quality buildings in well managed environments and a pipeline of development projects which will add significantly to our portfolio. Increasingly, our Offices are in mixed-use environments which include retail and residential elements. Our 6.7 million sq ft of high quality office space includes Regent’s Place and Paddington Central in the West End and Broadgate, the premier city office campus (50% share).
Our size and substance demands a responsible approach to business. We believe leadership on issues such as sustainability helps drive our performance and is core to the delivery of our overall objective of driving shareholder value and creating Places People Prefer.
Further details can be found on the British Land website at www.britishland.com
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