29th Mar 2007 07:04
Great Portland Estates PLC29 March 2007 PRESS RELEASE 29 March 2007 CAPITAL & COUNTIES AND GREAT PORTLAND FORM £460 MILLION CENTRAL LONDON JV Liberty International subsidiary Capital & Counties Ltd ("C&C") and GreatPortland Estates plc ("GPE") announce they have agreed to form The Great CapitalPartnership ("The Partnership"), a 50:50 joint venture, to own, manage anddevelop a number of central London properties and to broaden both parties'exposure in central London. Based on December 2006 book values, The Partnershipwill have a starting value of £460 million and comprise over 850,000 sq ft ofcommercial space producing a current net rent of £21.1 million per annum. C&C are to contribute £299 million of property located in Regent Street, W1;Piccadilly, W1; Jermyn Street, SW1; Wells Street, W1; Tottenham Court Road, W1;Kingsway, WC2; Britton Street, EC1; Wapping Wall, E1 and High Street Kensington,W8. These properties comprise most of C&C's existing central London holdingsoutside Covent Garden. The properties comprise a total of 605,000 sq ft andproduce a current net rent of £13.7 million per annum. GPE will contribute £162 million of property located in Park Crescent, W1;Portland Place, W1; Great Portland Street, W1; Sackville Street, W1 andBroadwick Street, W1. The properties comprise a total of 251,000 sq ft andproduce a current net rent of £7.4 million per annum. GPE will also pay abalancing payment of £68 million in cash. GPE will asset manage The Partnership. Ian Hawksworth, Managing Director of Capital & Counties commented "We aredelighted to have created this relationship with GPE. The venture will enable usto increase our involvement in London in partnership with this first class teamand is complementary to our significant and expanding wholly owned activities inCovent Garden." Toby Courtauld, Chief Executive of GPE, said, "The joint venture model has beenvery successful for GPE and we are very pleased to be forming this newpartnership with Capital & Counties. We look forward to working with our partnerto drive significant rental and capital growth from this important portfolio." Contacts: Capital & Counties Ian Hawksworth Managing Director, and Executive Director +44 (0)20 7887 7041 of Liberty InternationalGary Marcuccilli Executive Director +44 (0)20 7887 7041Michael Sandler Hudson Sandler +44 (0)20 7796 4133 Great Portland Estates plc Toby Courtauld Chief Executive +44 (0)20 7647 3042Robert Noel Property Director +44 (0)20 7647 3043James Murgatroyd Finsbury +44 (0)20 7251 3801Gordon Simpson Finsbury +44 (0)20 7251 3801 Notes for Editors LIBERTY INTERNATIONAL PLC is one of the UK's largest listed property companiesand a constituent of the FTSE-100 Index of the UK's leading listed companies.Liberty International converted into a UK Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) on1 January 2007. Liberty International owns Capital Shopping Centres ("CSC"), the premier UKregional shopping centre business and Capital & Counties, a retail andcommercial property investment and development company. At 31 December 2006 Liberty International held £8.2 billion of investmentproperties of which UK regional shopping centres comprised 80 per cent andretail property in aggregate 92 per cent. Shareholders' funds (diluted) amountedto £5.0 billion. CAPITAL SHOPPING CENTRES has interests in 14 UK regional shopping centresamounting to 12.4 million sq.ft. in aggregate including 8 of the UK's top 21regional shopping centres. CSC's largest centres are Lakeside, Thurrock;MetroCentre, Gateshead; Braehead, Renfrew, Glasgow; The Harlequin, Watford; andManchester, Arndale. CSC has three major development projects underway or withplanning permission in Cardiff, Oxford and Newcastle. CAPITAL & COUNTIES held assets of £1.65 billion at 31 December 2006 amounting to6.7 million sq.ft. in aggregate. Following recent purchases C&C now has around£620 million invested in the Covent Garden area including the historic CoventGarden Market, and a further £350 million in Central London. In addition to some£450 million invested in other retail and commercial properties in the UK,Capital & Counties has interests in the USA amounting to around £350 million(2.4 million sq.ft.), predominantly comprising retail assets in California,notably the 856,000 sq.ft. Serramonte Shopping Centre, Daly City, San Francisco.Capital & Counties is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty International PLC. GREAT PORTLAND ESTATES plc is a central London investment and developmentcompany and a constituent of the FTSE 250 index. It aims to deliver superiorreturns to shareholders through active management, the application ofdevelopment skills to create value and the maximising of equity returns throughefficient capital structuring and flexible financing. GPE converted into a UKReal Estate Investment Trust (REIT) on 1 January 2007. At 31 December 2006 GPE's portfolio, including its share of joint ventures, wasvalued at £1,418 million of which 82% was in the West End and 18% in the Cityand Southwark markets. This will be the third joint venture for GPE following the Great VictoriaPartnership, formed with Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society in January 2005 andthe Great Wigmore Partnership formed with Scottish Widows Investment Partnershipin July 2006. It will increase assets under management to £1.9 billion based onthe 31 December valuation. This press release includes statements that are forward-looking in nature.Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties andother factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements ofLiberty International PLC and Great Portland Estates plc to be materiallydifferent from any future results, performance or achievements expressed orimplied by such forward-looking statements. Any information contained in thispress release on the price at which shares or other securities in LibertyInternational PLC or Great Portland Estates plc have been bought or sold in thepast, or on the yield on such shares or other securities, should not be reliedupon as a guide to future performance. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
GPOR.LINTU.L