This Week's London Deal Sheet
The Deal Sheet is a weekly compilation of Greater London and beyond's biggest leases, sales, financing deals, construction updates and personnel moves. Have news you’d like to submit? Email mark.faithfull@bisnow.com.
Investec Real Estate has provided private equity real estate firm LCN Capital Partners with a £122M loan for the development of a 283K SF office scheme in Kingston, south-west London. Unilever has agreed to pre-let the entire building for its new global headquarters.
Alongside Investec’s £43M commitment, £79M of debt has been arranged with Allied Irish Bank and Bahrain-headquartered Bank ABC. The transaction represents the largest office development loan in outer London in 2023, according to Investec.
Investec said it reflects its strong conviction in technology-enabled modern office assets in prime and emerging locations with strong ESG credentials, focused on individual health and wellbeing.
The Unilever Campus, which is expected to be delivered in late 2024 or early 2025, is being developed by Cube Real Estate and will include 283K SF of office space across two linked glass-fronted buildings, as well as space for 354 cars — 30% of spaces enabled for electric vehicle charging — and 325 bicycles.
The development is targeting a BREEAM Excellent certification and to be carbon net-zero in operation.
DEALS
Last-mile real estate specialist Valor Real Estate Partners has agreed to terms for the acquisition of the Tera 40 industrial estate on Auriol Drive, Greenford, for £146M.
The estate comprises four modern distribution assets totalling 341K SF fully let to Tesco, Palletways, Royal Mail and Micheldever. The estate sits on a 19-acre site, providing up to 285 car parking spaces and up to 63 metres of clear yard space.
Valor was represented by Cogent Real Estate and Simmons & Simmons. Vendor Lothbury was represented by Gerald Eve and Travers Smith.
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Industrials REIT has announced its first investment since the completion of its acquisition by Blackstone in June with the purchase of Rochester Trade Park from clients of Swiss Life Asset Managers UK.
Rochester Trade Park is a circa 40K SF multilet industrial estate comprising 14 units of between 1,500 SF and 6K SF, suited to small and midsized enterprises. It is fully occupied by a well-diversified range of customers, the company said.
Industrials REIT was advised by DTRE on the transaction, and Swiss Life was advised by BNP Paribas Real Estate.
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British Land is reportedly in talks to offload a portfolio of assets to U.S. real estate company Realty Income Corp. The potential £300M deal is said to include six London-based data centres and offices leased to Vodafone, along with three shopping centres.
Realty Income first invested in the UK market in 2019 with a joint ownership deal with British Land involving 12 Sainsbury’s supermarkets worth £429M. Since then, the U.S. company has expanded its UK portfolio, investing over £2B in supermarkets, do-it-yourself stores and over 30 retail parks.
A £100M value was placed on British Land’s data centre and office portfolio in July 2023, while Realty Income is also understood to be looking at the acquisition of Inverness Shopping Park, the Kingston Centre in Milton Keynes, and Serpentine Green in Peterborough.
Both British Land and Realty Income have declined to comment on the reports.
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Broadcaster the BBC has sold its historic Maida Vale studios to a partnership that includes Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer and film producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.
The venue in north-west London has hosted thousands of performances from pop and rock acts and was also home to the BBC Symphony Orchestra and hosted live music events for BBC radio stations ranging from John Peel sessions to Radio 1’s Live Lounge recordings.
The new owners have agreed to continue the venue’s role as a centre for pioneering music creation and retain the building’s original facade, while the venue will remain as a studio space, with a multimillion-pound refurbishment plan.
There will also be the creation of a not-for-profit education facility.
SALES
CBRE has been appointed to sell a portfolio of eight cinemas comprising two luxury boutique Tivoli cinemas, five multiplex cinemas and one classic standalone cinema on behalf of administrators to Empire Cinemas.
The assets are across the UK in Bath, Cheltenham, Birmingham, Clydebank, High Wycombe, Ipswich, Sutton and Sutton Coldfield and are available to purchase as a single portfolio, individual sites or a combination thereof.
The assets are available on a variety of tenures with freeholds, long leaseholds and occupational leaseholds.
In addition to the cinemas, the fully operational head office in Leicester Square will be offered as part of the sale, which is on a peppercorn rent for the next three years.
FINANCE
Picture Living, part of housing association Place for People, has committed £23M to forward fund two single-family residential schemes in Essex, which will deliver 63 homes for rent.
In Coggeshall, north Essex, Vistry Group will deliver 36 homes, the first of which will be available at the start of 2024.
The second scheme, in Elsenham, north-west Essex, will be developed by Dandara and will deliver 27 homes, with the first units completing in summer 2024.
Picture Living has a mandate to invest in new or modern homes for rent across the UK. It has assets under management of £350M and has amassed a portfolio of circa 1,725 single-family homes and apartments to date, including just over 160 under development.
It recently took full ownership of 106 single-family homes across three schemes in Market Harborough, Warwick and Derby, all delivered by Avant Homes.
Progress is also being made at Heyford Park, Bicester, which comprises 100 homes, the first of which are expected to be available to residents in early 2024, the company said.
