New JV Agreement for Meadowhall with Norges

RNS Number : 1088O

British Land Co PLC

08 October 2012

 



British Land and Norges Sign New Joint Venture Agreement for Meadowhall

British Land and Norges Bank Investment Management, the investment manager for the government pension fund of Norway, are pleased to announce the signing of a new joint venture ownership agreement following Norges acquisition of London & Stamford's 50% shareholding in Meadowhall. The new joint venture includes the Meadowhall Shopping Centre along with 74 acres of adjoining development land. The agreement creates a new strategic partnership for Meadowhall, one of the UK's largest super-regional shopping centres and brings together the UK's largest listed retail landlord and one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds. British Land will continue to manage the shopping centre.

Meadowhall, which is located on the outskirts of Sheffield, is Yorkshire's premier shopping destination. Attracting over 24 million shoppers every year, it provides 1.5 million sq ft of high quality retail and leisure space to a diverse range of international, national and local brands including Marks & Spencer, Debenhams, House of Fraser, Apple, Hollister, Primark, Next, Top Shop, Wagamama, Carluccio's and Vue Cinemas. The strength of Meadowhall's appeal to retailers is reflected in its consistently high occupancy levels (97%) and long weighted average lease length (9.3 years to first break).

British Land has progressively invested in the centre to grow and drive shopper demand. Over the last two years, performance has significantly benefited from a targeted programme to broaden Meadowhall's appeal by widening its catchment area, attracting more affluent consumers and by extending the time people spend at the centre.

During that time, brands such as Guess, Urban Outfitters, Armani Exchange and Cath Kidston have significantly expanded Meadowhall's premium and aspirational shopping offer. A £7 million redevelopment of the food court, which was completed in October last year, has transformed the food offer with popular brands such as Yo! Sushi, Wagamama, Carluccio's, ChaoBaby and Giraffe opening new restaurants. As a result, over the last year average spend per head has increased by 17% and average catering spend per head is over 30% ahead. Footfall has also consistently been stronger than the national and regional averages with footfall in the last quarter to June up by over 4% which compares to -2.4% for the UK as a whole (as measured by Experian).

Chris Grigg, CEO of British Land, said, "We are delighted to be joining forces at Meadowhall with Norges. As one of our largest shareholders and a leading international investor, Norges is an ideal strategic partner for British Land. Norges' investment is a measure of the outstanding quality of Meadowhall and we look forward to working with them to continue to develop its potential in the years to come."

Karsten Kallevig, Chief Investment Office, Real Estate at Norges Bank Investment Management, said, "We are very pleased to be teaming up with a partner of British Land's calibre and look forward to working together to further develop the long-term potential of Meadowhall."

British Land were advised on the joint venture arrangements by Morgan Stanley. 

Enquiries:

Investor Relations

Sally Jones, British Land                                                0207 467 2942

Media

Pip Wood, British Land                                                   020 7467 2838

Gordon Simpson, Finsbury                                             020 7251 3801

Notes to Editors

About Meadowhall Shopping Centre

Meadowhall is one of only six super-regional shopping centres in the UK.  Located on junction 34 of the M1, the centre has 1.5 million sq ft of prime retail space developed on the site of a former steelworks and opened in 1990.  The centre is built on levels within a crescent-shaped mall and comprises over 280 shops let to broad range of popular international, national and local retail brands.  The leisure offer now boasts an 11-screen cinema, the Oasis Dining Quarter and 13 mall cafes.  The centre also benefits from 12,000 free car parking spaces, as well as the centre's own public transport interchange for local and regional bus, train and Supertram services that run throughout the day.   

Further details can be found on the Meadowhall website at www.meadowhall.co.uk.

About British Land

British Land is one of Europe's largest Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) with total assets, owned or managed, of £15.8 billion (British Land share £10.3 billion), as valued at 31 March 2012. 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 by over 300 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 98.1% and average lease length to first break of 11.3 years are among the highest of the major UK REITs.

Retail assets account for 61% of our portfolio with around 27 million sq ft of retail space across 89 retail parks, 97 superstores, 12 shopping centres and 10 department stores. The retail portfolio is modern, flexible and adaptable to a wide range of formats and our active asset management delivers space which is attractive and meets the needs of both retailers and consumers. Over 80% of our retail parks have open A1 consent.

London offices, located in the City and West End, comprise 34% of the portfolio (which will rise to an estimated 40% on completion of current developments). Our 7 million sq ft of high quality office space includes Broadgate, the premier City office campus (50% share) and Regent's Place in the West End. We have committed £1.2 billion to create Central London's largest committed office development programme which will deliver 2.3 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 a 500,000 sq ft mixed office and residential scheme at Regent's Place in the West End.

Managing our environmental, economic and social impacts is central to the way we do business and deliver value for our shareholders. We assess the issues that matter most to us and our stakeholders on an on-going basis and, where appropriate, adjust our strategic focus to reflect this. For the coming year we have adjusted our priorities to focus on managing our buildings efficiently, supporting communities, developing sustainable buildings and engaging our staff. For each of these priorities we are targeting our efforts and resources at initiatives where we can achieve the biggest impacts.

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

About Norges

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) safeguards and builds financial wealth for future generations as the manager of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global. The fund is invested globally in equity, fixed-income and real estate markets. It held assets worth about $600 billion at the end of June 2012.

 

END

 

 

MSCBKODBKBDBFKK