UBS Pre-let & Lease Extensions Completed

RNS Number : 2977W

British Land Co PLC

30 January 2012

 



UBS Pre-let and Lease Extensions Completed at Broadgate

British Land and Blackstone are pleased to announce they have satisfied the remaining outstanding conditions on the agreement with UBS AG to pre-let 5 Broadgate and now that the agreement is unconditional, development of the new 700,000 sq ft building will proceed.

Demolition of the existing 4 & 6 Broadgate buildings is well underway and will be completed in April, with delivery of the new bespoke building on schedule for Q4 2014.  The Joint Venture has already placed or tendered around 60% of the project's construction costs within budget and programme.

UBS will lease the entire building for an average of 18.2 years to first break at an initial rent of £54.50 per sq ft subject to annual increases in line with RPI (within a range of 0-4% per annum).  UBS will be given a rent free period of 18 months.

As part of the agreement, UBS has also deferred exercising lease break options on 755,000 sq ft of existing space which they currently occupy at Broadgate (comprising 1-2 Finsbury Avenue, 8-10 Broadgate and 100 Liverpool Street) until 18-36 months following practical completion, to allow the new building to be fitted out. The earliest date that UBS can break the leases is towards the end of Q2 2016. Deferring the lease breaks will ensure that the Joint Venture receives a further £74 million of rent, approximately £32 million of this was agreed by UBS on signing of the conditional agreement in 2010, as part of a package of negotiated lease amendments.

Tim Roberts, Head of Offices for British Land, said: "This is another significant milestone in the development of the new UBS building at 5 Broadgate and a real boost for the City. The Broadgate estate continues to evolve to serve the needs of a range of city occupiers and the 30,000 people based there."

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

Notes to Editors

About British Land

British Land is one of Europe's largest Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) with total assets, owned or managed, of £15.6 billion (British Land share £10.2 billion), as valued at 30 September 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 by over 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 98% and average lease length to first break of 12 years are among the highest of the major UK REITs.

Retail assets account for 62% of our portfolio, over 80% of which are located at prime out-of-town sites. Comprising around 27 million sq ft of retail space across 91 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 attractive space to both retailers and consumers.

London offices, located in the City and West End, comprise 33% of the portfolio (rising to an estimated 37% on completion of current developments) with 7 million sq ft of office space including Broadgate, the premier City office campus (50% share) and Regent's Place in the West End. We are investing £1.1 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 a 500,000 sq ft mixed office and residential scheme at Regent's Place in the West End. Following the agreement with Aon, on Leadenhall, around 50% of our developments are pre-let.

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

About Blackstone

Blackstone (NYSE: BX) is one of the world's leading investment and advisory firms. Blackstone seeks to create positive economic impact and long-term value for its investors, the companies it invests in, the companies it advises and the broader global economy. The firm accomplishes this through the commitment of its people and flexible capital. Blackstone's alternative asset management businesses include the management of private equity funds, real estate funds, hedge fund solutions, credit-oriented funds and closed-end mutual funds. The Blackstone Group also provides various financial advisory services, including financial and strategic advisory, restructuring and reorganization advisory and fund placement services.

 

END

 

 

MSCEAEFXAEAAEFF