Nov 15, 2004
Land Securities Group PLC ("Land Securities") and Slough Estates plc ("Slough Estates") announce today that they have exchanged contracts for the property swap announced on 24 August 2004. The transaction will involve an exchange of the majority of their respective retail and industrial property portfolios with a combined value of approximately £700 million.
Following completion of the transaction Land Securities will own The Howard Centre in Welwyn Garden City, the Lewisham Centre in South London, the Bishop Centre in Taplow and a 50% interest in Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow. The portfolio totals some 91,300 sq. m. of retail space and has a rent roll of £20.4 million.
In return Slough Estates will increase its industrial portfolio by some 300,000 sq. m of space. Slough will be acquiring a total of 23 properties, with a rent roll of approximately £22 million including a rental guarantee. The difference in the relative values of the portfolios will be met by a cash consideration of £18.5 million, payable to Slough Estates. Land Securities will retain industrial properties with a value of £56 million (31 March 2004), the majority of which have medium term potential for development for alternative uses and Slough Estates will retain its share in shopping centres in York and Surrey Quays, which will be sold in due course.
Francis Salway, Land Securities Chief Executive said "A property swap is an effective way to acquire additional retail assets off market - given our decision earlier this year to focus our activities on sectors where we had market leading positions. While the industrial portfolio has performed well it proved too small to impact substantially on the Group's overall performance. We are very pleased with the scope the new assets offer in terms of asset management and development opportunities."
Ian Coull, Chief Executive of Slough Estates, added: "This swap is a good deal for Slough as it sharpens our sector focus at a time in the cycle when it is right for us to increase our exposure to industrial property and to prepare ourselves for a possible REIT structure in the next couple of years. We had an excellent portfolio of retail assets but it was too small a portfolio to give us meaningful sector diversification whereas this swap was a one-off opportunity to acquire a substantial and first class portfolio of industrial assets in the South of the UK."
For further information:
Ian Coull
Slough Estates
01753 537171
Andrew Best/Emily Bruning
Shared Value
020 7321 5022 / 020 7321 5027
Francis Salway/Emma Denne
Land Securities Group
020 7413 9000
Jonathan Brill/Stephanie Highett
Financial Dynamics
020 7831 3113
Notes to Editors
Slough EstatesSlough Estates is a leading provider of flexible business space in business parks in Western Europe and North America, with over 1700 customers occupying 2.9 million sq.m. of business space, with a total value of £3.6 billion. Slough Estates' properties are in suburban locations in close proximity to the main business centres, where there is long term demand for business accommodation to serve these key economic regions. The company's main activities are currently based around London, Brussels, Paris, Düsseldorf, San Francisco and San Diego and the company continues to develop new business parks with the long term objective of building shareholder value and enhancing its reputation for quality buildings offering excellent value to customers.
www.sloughestates.com
Land SecuritiesLand Securities is a FTSE 100 company, quoted on the London Stock Exchange. It has been at the forefront of the UK's commercial property industry for 60 years. Today, the Group maintains its market leading position as the UK's largest quoted property company by providing commercial accommodation and property services to a wide range of occupiers. The Group's objective is to create attractive and sustainable returns for its shareholders through its activities, which include property investment, development and property outsourcing.
Land Securities holds a market leading position in three areas of the UK commercial property market:
·Retail,
·London offices and
·Property outsourcing.
Its £8 billion investment portfolio includes more than 810,000 sq.m. of office space in Central London and substantial retail holdings in Oxford Street, Tottenham Court Road and Notting Hill Gate. In addition the Group owns 15 shopping centres and 24 retail parks located across the UK.
It has a substantial development programme with a number of development projects; these include regeneration schemes in historical British cities, three major retail-led urban regeneration schemes and eight Central London developments. The Group is also masterplanning one of Europe's largest regeneration schemes in Kent Thameside.
The Group leads the market in property outsourcing where, through Land Securities Trillium, it provides accommodation and property-related services to the Department for Work and Pensions, the BBC, Norwich Union and through a joint venture, Telereal, to BT.
The Group is committed to environmental initiatives and community involvement. This has been recognised by the Group's inclusion in the BiTC Corporate Responsibility Index, FTSE4Good Index and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Its environmental performance has been recognised by the award of three Green Apple Environment Awards and receiving ISO14001 accreditation for its work with the DWP.