British Land Continues to Reshape Retail Portfolio

RNS Number : 9774P

British Land Co PLC

08 October 2013

 



8 October 2013

British Land Continues to Reshape Retail Portfolio

British Land announces that Scottish Retail Property Limited Partnership (a joint venture between British Land and Land Securities) has agreed to sell the Bon Accord & St Nicolas Centre in Aberdeen to F&C REIT for £189 million (BL share £94.5 million). The 460,000 sq ft scheme comprises 75 retail units and 1,400 car park spaces positioned between a 200,000 sq ft John Lewis and a 110,000 sq ft M&S.

In the last month British Land has sold a number of assets totalling £263 million (BL share £168 million), including the sale of the freehold of St James Retail Park, Northampton, to a client of DTZ Investment Management Limited for £53 million. The 165,000 sq ft retail scheme, which comprises 11 retail units and 588 car park spaces, was acquired by British Land in 1995 for £21.6 million. British Land has also acquired £101 million of retail assets, including the 430,000 sq ft Southgate, Bath.

Charles Maudsley, Head of Retail for British Land, said: "We are taking advantage of the improved sentiment in the investment markets and are delighted to have executed a number of sales recently."

ENDS

Enquiries:

Investor Relations

Sally Jones, British Land                                                            020 7467 2942

Media

Jackie Whitaker, British Land                                                      020 7467 3449

Emma Hammond, FTI Consulting                                                020 7269 9347

Pip Wood, British Land                                                               020 7467 2942

Gordon Simpson, Finsbury Group                                                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 £16.9 billion (British Land share £11.0 billion), as valued at 31 March 2013 but adjusted for recent acquisitions and disposals, notably a major interest in Paddington Central.

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 receive over 300 million visits each year. Our property portfolio is focused on prime retail locations and London offices which attract high quality occupiers committed to long leases. Following our purchase of Paddington Central, our occupancy rate is 96.2% and average lease length to first break is 10.6 years.

Retail assets account for 58% of our portfolio, around 80% of which are located at prime out of town sites. Comprising around 28 million sq ft of retail space across 79 retail parks, 89 superstores, 17 shopping centres and 13 department stores, the retail portfolio is modern, flexible and adaptable to a wide range of formats. Our active asset management delivers space which is attractive and meets the needs of both retailers and consumers.

London offices, located in the City and West End, comprise 38% 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 and Paddington Central in the West End. Since 2010, we have committed £1.2 billion to deliver 2.3 million sq ft of high quality space in London 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.

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 vision of building the best REIT in Europe.

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

 

END

 

 

PFUEAPEPESSDFEF