Heads of Terms with Aon agreed at Leadenhall

RNS Number : 6161G

British Land Co PLC

16 May 2011

 



                                                   16 May 2011

British Land and Oxford Properties Agree Heads of Terms with Aon for Pre-let of 191,000 sq ft at The Leadenhall Building, EC3

The British Land Company PLC ("British Land") and Oxford Properties ("Oxford") are pleased to announce that their 50:50 joint venture has agreed non-binding Heads of Terms with Aon Limited ("Aon"), subsidiary of Aon Corporation, the leading global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing, for a 191,000 sq ft pre-let of the 610,000 sq ft Leadenhall Building.  Aon has agreed to take the lower 10 floors of the offices (levels 4-13), and also have options to take up to a further 85,000 sq ft of space on levels 14-18.

At 736 ft (224m), the 47 storey Leadenhall Building is set to become one of the tallest and most iconic buildings in the Square Mile. Located in the heart of the City's insurance district, it combines spectacular landscaped open space, retail and dining facilities with modern, flexible office space across a range of floor plates; from 21,000 sq ft at the base of the building to 6,000 sq ft at the top of the tower. Construction of the tower started in January with practical completion scheduled for the mid 2014. 

Chris Grigg, Chief Executive of British Land said, "We are delighted that Aon has chosen The Leadenhall Building as the headquarters for its UK operations. This agreement demonstrates the high level of interest being shown by major occupiers for this iconic London office building and the world-class accommodation it will offer."

Paul Brundage, Executive Vice President, Senior Managing Director Europe of Oxford Properties said, "This deal confirms our original investment decision in The Leadenhall Building and is testament to the strength of our joint venture with British Land, the timing of the building's delivery and broader global relationship with Aon."

Robert Brown, CEO Aon Limited said, "We are delighted to have chosen The Leadenhall Building as our new London headquarters.  The Aon Centre at The Leadenhall Building is an impressive location and the offices will reflect our position as the leading global professional services firm focused on risk and human capital management.  Such a significant investment confirms Aon Corp's commitment to the UK, and indeed London, as a strategically important and integral part of Aon's future.  We look forward to working with British Land and Oxford Properties."

Enquiries:

British Land:

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

Oxford Properties

Debbie Cracknell/Ceri Edwards, Redwood Consulting                   020 7828 5553

Aon

Katherine Conway, Aon                                                              020 7086 7201

Notes to Editors

About British Land

British Land is one of the UK's largest Real Estate Investment Trusts with total assets, owned or under management, valued at £14.5 billion (British Land share £9.3 billion), as at 31 December 2010.  Our property portfolio is focused on high quality retail locations and central London offices which we believe are well placed to benefit from growing customer demand.  We have among the highest occupancy rates and average lease lengths of the major UK REITs at 98.1% and 12.1 years respectively. 

Retail assets account for 66% of our portfolio, around 80% of which are located at prime out-of-town sites.  Our portfolio comprises over 26 million sq ft of retail space across 89 retail warehouse properties, 99 superstores, 12 shopping centres and 10 department stores.  Our portfolio benefits from flexible planning consents making the portfolio adaptable to a wide range of formats.  This allows us to actively manage our portfolio and deliver the most attractive space to both retailers and consumers.

Central London offices currently comprise 32% of the portfolio.  Our portfolio comprises 6 million sq ft of office space and includes a 50% share in Broadgate, the premier office campus in the City and Regent's Place, an office estate in the West End. During 2010, we committed to a significant development programme in central London which, on the basis of current estimates of values at completion, increase the weighting of offices in the group's portfolio from 32% to nearly 40%.  These developments, which will deliver 2.2 million sq ft of high quality space in the City and West End by 2014, include: a new 700,000 sq ft building for UBS at Broadgate; the 610,000 sq ft Leadenhall Building in London's insurance district; and the 500,000 sq ft NEQ building, which will complete the Regent's Place estate in the West End. The aggregate development cost, including land and interest is expected to be £1.5 billion, of which British Land's share is £1.0 billion.

Further details can be found on the British Land website at www.britishland.com

About Oxford Properties

Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2010, Oxford Properties Group is one of North America's largest commercial real estate investment, development and management firms. Oxford oversees and manages approximately C$17 billion of real estate for itself and on behalf of its co-owners and investment partners including headquarter buildings and development projects such as the Royal Bank Plaza in Toronto, the West Side Yards in New York, Watermark Place in London and Centennial Place in Calgary. Oxford's investments include office, retail, hotel, industrial and multi-family residential properties. Oxford is the real estate arm of the OMERS Worldwide Group of Companies and has regional head offices in Toronto, New York and London. For more information visit: www.oxfordproperties.com.

About Aon

Aon Corporation (NYSE: AON) is the leading global provider of risk managementservices, insuranceand reinsurancebrokerage, and human resourcessolutions and outsourcing. Through its more than 59,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to deliver distinctive client value via innovativeand effective riskmanagement and workforceproductivity solutions. Aon's industry-leading global resources and technical expertise are delivered locally in over 120 countries. Named the world's best broker by Euromoneymagazine's 2008, 2009 and 2010 Insurance Survey, Aon also ranked highest on Business Insurance's listing of the world's insurance brokers based on commercial retail, wholesale, reinsurance and personal lines brokerage revenues in 2008 and 2009. A.M. Bestdeemed Aon the number one insurance broker based on revenues in 2007, 2008 and 2009, and Aon was voted best insurance intermediary 2007-2010, best reinsurance intermediary 2006-2010, best captives manager 2009-2010, and best employee benefits consulting firm 2007-2009 by the readers of Business Insurance. Visit http://www.aon.com for more information on Aon and http://www.aon.com/manchesterunited to learn about Aon's global partnership and shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.

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