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RNS Number : 3099J
British Land Co PLC
29 June 2011
British Land acquires modern, high quality property in
Maidenhead for GBP74 million
British Land announces that it has purchased Grenfell Island, a
prime office and leisure scheme totalling 198,000 sq ft in
Maidenhead town centre, for GBP74 million representing a net
initial yield of 7.5%.
The property comprises 113,000 sq ft of high quality, flexible
office space let to Hutchison 3G UK Ltd, as the UK headquarters of
Hutchison Whampoa Ltd a leading global telecommunications and data
services provider. The unexpired lease term is 9.5 years. There is
an additional 85,000 sq ft of leisure accommodation in an adjoining
building anchored by a 10-screen Odeon cinema and health club. The
weighted average lease length for the entire property is 10.7
years.
Grenfell Island was completed in 2000 and is situated opposite
Maidenhead's mainline railway station within the town centre's core
commercial district. Located just 30 miles from the centre of
London, Maidenhead is considered to be one of the strongest South
East office markets, attracting major occupiers such as Adobe,
GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson, as well as Hutchinson
3G. Maidenhead will also be the western terminus for Crossrail, a
high frequency rail service due for completion in 2018 which will
provide the town with exceptional direct links not only to Heathrow
Airport, but also to London's key business districts in the West
End, City and Canary Wharf.
Tim Roberts, Head of Offices at British Land said, "Grenfell
Island is a modern, well let property in a town which is expected
to be a major beneficiary of the investment in Crossrail. The
acquisition provides British Land with an attractive income return
in an improving occupier market and fits well within our strategic
priority of creating sustainable and growing property rental
streams. It also has significant capital appreciation potential
given both the future benefits of Cross Rail and as the markets in
the South East continue to improve."
Knight Frank represented British Land and Lambert Smith Hampton
acted for the private vendor.
Enquiries:
Investor Relations
Sally Jones, British Land 020 7467 2942
Media
Pip Wood, British Land 020 7467 2838
Guy Lamming/ Gordon Simpson, Finsbury 020 7251 3801
Notes to Editors
An image of Grenfell Island can be found along with this press
release on the British Land website at www.britishland.com
About British Land
British Land is one of Europe's largest Real Estate Investment
Trusts (REITs) with total assets, owned or managed, of GBP14.9
billion (British Land share GBP9.6 billion), as valued at 31 March
2011. Through our property and finance expertise we attract
experienced partners to create properties and environments which
are home to over 1,000 different organisations and visited byover
250 million people each year. Our property portfolio is focused on
prime retail locations and Central London offices which attract
high quality occupiers committed to long leases. Our occupancy rate
of 97.8% and average lease length of 11.5 years are among the
highest of the major UK REITs.
Retail assets account for 66% of our portfolio, around 80% of
which are located at prime out-of-town sites. Comprising some 27
million sq ft of retail space across 90 retail warehouse
properties, 99 superstores, 12 shopping centres and 10 department
stores, the retail portfolio is generally modern, flexible and
adaptable to a wide range of formats. Active asset management
delivers the attractive space to both retailers and consumers.
London offices, located in the City and West End, comprise 32%
of the portfolio (rising to an estimated 37% on completion of
current development). 7 million sq ft of office space includes
Broadgate, the premier City office campus (50% share) and Regent's
Place in the West End. We are also investing GBP1.1 billion to
create Central London's largest committed office development
programme which will deliver 2.2 million sq ft of high quality
space by 2014, including a 700,000 sq ft building at 5 Broadgate,
the 610,000 sq ft Leadenhall Building in London's insurance
district and the 500,000 sq ft NEQ building at Regent's Place.
Our size and substance demands a responsible approach to
business and we focus on five areas which matter most to us and our
key stakeholders: managing buildings efficiently; developing
sustainable buildings; enhancing biodiversity, exceeding customers'
expectations and focusing on local communities. We believe
leadership on issues such as sustainability helps drive our
performance and is core to our corporate aim of building the best
REIT in Europe.
Further details can be found on the British Land website at
www.britishland.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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