BRITISH LAND AND ROYAL LONDON
ASSET MANAGEMENT ANNOUNCE JOINT VENTURE TO DELIVER WORLD CLASS
SCIENCE AND INNOVATION BUILDING AT 1 TRITON
SQUARE
British Land and Royal London Asset Management
Property ('Royal London Asset Management') announce the formation
of a new 50:50 joint venture ('JV') to accelerate the delivery of 1
Triton Square into a best in class science and innovation building
at Regent's Place. The agreement values 1 Triton Square at
£385m.
The new JV will combine British Land and Royal
London Asset Management's development and asset management
capabilities to deliver a world class science and innovation
building. The design is highly flexible, offering a mix of fitted
and lab-enabled space as well as the potential to incorporate
serviced offices to accommodate flexible requirements at the lower
levels, whilst retaining best in class office space on upper
floors.
1 Triton Square is located in the heart of the
Regent's Place campus within London's Knowledge Quarter, which is
home to leading research institutions including The Francis Crick
Institute, The Wellcome Trust, The Alan Turing Institute and
University College London. The campus' location within this
well-established innovation ecosystem makes it well positioned to
capture the growing space requirements from these
businesses.
The transaction delivers against one of British
Land's key strategic priorities to actively recycle capital, with
proceeds being reinvested into future developments. The
establishment of this JV partnership accelerates and enhances
returns.
The JV marks an important milestone for Royal
London Asset Management's property team as it builds on its
existing life sciences and innovation platform across the Golden
Triangle of London, Cambridge and Oxford.
Royal London Asset Management is committed to
responsible property investment across its portfolio. The strategy
to reposition the existing asset at 1 Triton Square into a
high-performing innovation centre aligns with this approach and
reinforces the team's core strategic objectives to maximise value
and deliver long-term, sustainable solutions to meet evolving
occupier needs.
Simon Carter,
Chief Executive of British Land, said: "We are
delighted to be working with Royal London Asset Management to
deliver a world class science and innovation building at Regent's
Place.
We proactively took 1 Triton Square back from
Meta to reposition it for science and innovation customers, with
the expectation of unlocking significantly higher rents, whilst
benefitting from a considerable surrender premium to further
improve the economics.
This transaction is another example of how we
drive value through establishing innovative JV partnerships,
enabling us to flex our balance sheet, share the risk and
crystallise the value created from Meta's surrender
premium."
Mark Evans,
Head of Property and Commercial Development at Royal London Asset
Management Property, said: "We are thrilled to
join forces with British Land to reposition 1 Triton Square for the
science and innovation market. The partnership opportunity aligns
with our wider strategy to leverage our platforms in new markets
and continue to deliver on our commitment to purposeful
investment.
We have long recognised the demand for
best-in-class science and innovation space, particularly in the
Golden Triangle, and the need for this space in supporting the UK's
economic growth. In testament to this strategic vision Royal London
Asset Management has established 1.5m sq ft of holdings to meet
these needs over the past 10 years. 1 Triton Square will increase
our holdings to over 2.0m sq ft and will form a core part of our
wider portfolio as we position life sciences and innovation as a
core platform for further investment."
Financial
effects for British Land
British Land will receive gross proceeds of
£192.5m from the sale of a 50% share in addition to £149m surrender
premium already received from Meta. The combined impact of the
surrender premium, JV formation and subsequent fit-out and leasing
is expected to deliver a 30%+ IRR. The 50% disposal will result
initially in a c.2p increase in NTA per share and due to the pay
down of debt and the related interest saving increases FY25 EPS by
c.1p. The transaction reduces LTV by 1.4%, largely mitigating
development capex incurred across the business in H2 FY24 on our
1.9m sq ft committed programme.
- ENDS -
Investors:
Sandra Moura, British
Land
|
07989 755
535
|
Will Hawking, Royal London Asset
Management
|
07919 170
915
|
Media:
Charlotte Whitley, British
Land
|
07887 802 535
|
Hannah Beer, ING Media (Royal London Asset
Management)
|
07548
099688
|
About British
Land
Our portfolio of high quality UK commercial
property is focused on London Campuses and Retail & London
Urban Logistics assets throughout the UK. We own or manage a
portfolio valued at £12.7bn (British Land share: £8.7bn) as at 30
September 2023 making us one of Europe's largest listed real estate
investment companies.
We create Places People Prefer, delivering the
best, most sustainable places for our customers and communities.
Our strategy is to leverage our best in class platform and proven
expertise in development, repositioning and active management,
investing behind two key themes: Campuses and Retail & London
Urban Logistics.
Our three campuses at Broadgate, Paddington
Central and Regent's Place are dynamic neighbourhoods, attracting
growth customers and sectors, and offering some of the best
connected, highest quality and most sustainable space in London. We
are delivering our fourth Campus at Canada Water, where we have
planning consent to deliver 5m sq ft of residential, commercial,
retail and community space over 53 acres. Our Campuses account for
62% of our portfolio.
Retail & London Urban Logistics accounts for
38% of the portfolio and is focused on retail parks which are
aligned to the growth of convenience, online and last mile
fulfilment. We are complementing this with urban logistics
primarily in London, focused on development led
opportunities.
Sustainability is embedded throughout our
business. Our approach is focused on three key pillars where
British Land can create the most benefit: Greener Spaces, making
our whole portfolio net zero carbon by 2030, Thriving Places,
partnering to grow social value and wellbeing in the communities
where we operate and Responsible Choices, advocating responsible
business practices across British Land and throughout our supply
chain, and maintaining robust governance structures. Further
details can be found on the British Land website at www.britishland.com.
About Royal
London Asset Management Property
Royal London Asset Management Property is a key
player in the UK commercial property market, operating across six
key sectors: offices, retail, industrial and logistics,
residential, healthcare and alternatives.
The team is part of Royal London Asset
Management, one of the UK's leading fund management companies,
providing investment management solutions to both wholesale and
institutional clients such as not-for-profit organisations, local
authorities and the insurance sector.
Visit
Responsible property investment | Institutional |
RLAM to learn more.