11th Aug 2005 09:00
Land Securities Group Plc11 August 2005 11 August 2005 METRO SHOPPING FUND MAKES FIRST ACQUISITION WITH PURCHASE OF HALF A MIILIONSQUARE FEET IN WANDSWORTH The Metro Shopping Fund ('Metro' / 'Fund'), the 50/50 London retail jointventure between Land Securities Group PLC ('Land Securities') and Delancey,announces the acquisition of Southside, Wandsworth, London SW18 for £188million. The purchase from Wandsworth LP, a joint venture between PortfolioHoldings, Apollo Real Estate Advisors and Deutsche Bank Real Estate's GlobalOpportunities Fund, reflects an equivalent yield of 5.75%. Southside comprises a 530,000 sq ft (49,237 sq m) shopping centre incorporatingretail, leisure, and office accommodation, with five residential blocks above,and an adjoining 1,180 multi-storey car park. The wide ranging retail offerincludes Waitrose, Next, H&M, Primark and HMV, a 14 screen cinema let toCineworld and a Virgin Active healthclub. The purchase of Southside represents the first acquisition by Metro since itsformation in June 2004 taking the total size of the fund to over £0.5bn and thetotal square footage of the Fund's assets to nearly 1 million sq ft (92,900 sqm) across five London retail assets. The other assets owned by Metro areShopstop @ Clapham Junction, N1 Islington, Victoria Place, SW1 and Notting HillGate W11. Commenting on behalf of the Metro Shopping Fund, Anna-Louise Lancaster said: "This is a significant purchase for the Metro Shopping Fund and is consistentwith the Fund's strategy to acquire and manage assets which provide extensiveopportunities for growth. "Across the Metro portfolio we are working to capitalise on Delancey's and LandSecurities' expertise in the London market to develop a tenant profile whichmatches the requirements of the centre's customers and thereby maximising theperformance of the asset." Tim Haden-Scott added: "The purchase of Southside provides the Metro Shopping Fund with the criticalmass which is so important to maximise opportunities for our tenants and fullyexploit the synergies across the portfolio. "We are continuing to pursue opportunities to grow the Fund further through newpurchases or through the addition of third party investors with the aim ofbuilding it to a value of over £1 billion." Metro has acquired Southside at an important phase in the centre's evolution. Itis part way through a programme of redevelopment and improvement which willtransform the centre into a major south west London shopping and leisuredestination. Southside has already experienced a noticeable makeover in recentyears by the arrival of a large number of new retailers spearheaded by Waitrose.Metro's approach to the next phase will be to further enhance the environment byfocusing on a closer alignment of the retail offer to the surrounding affluentcatchment. Metro will also target an improvement to the physical environment ofthe centre, creating an outward looking centre that integrates with the localhigh street and surrounding area. The Metro Shopping Fund was advised by Dalgleish and Angermann Goddard & Loyd.Strutt & Parker acted on behalf of the vendor. -Ends- For further information, please contact: Emma Denne/ Melissa Winsor Land Securities Group PLC Tel: 020 7413 9000 Sally Hands Delancey Tel: +44 (0)20 7448 1473 Dido Laurimore / Stephanie Highett Financial Dynamics Tel: +44(0)20 7831 3113 Notes to Editors Metro Shopping Fund Formed in June 2004, Metro Shopping Fund Limited is a 50/50 Limited Partnershipbetween Delancey and Land Securities Group PLC. The joint venture, which hasdedicated management to provide asset, corporate and property managementservices, is designed to maximise long-term value from the portfolio's assets inorder to leverage economies of scale and enhance value creation opportunities.The portfolio includes Southside, Wandsworth, Shopstop @ Clapham Junction, N1Islington, Victoria Place, SW1 and Notting Hill Gate W11. Delancey Delancey provides real estate related advisory and management services to avariety of clients in respect of a broad range of assets varying from individualproperty investments and developments throughout the UK to corporateinvestments. The Group's investment strategies are based upon four fundamentalcriteria: of underlying quality of assets, liquidity, provision of stablecashflows and capital growth potential. Land Securities Group PLC Land Securities is a FTSE100 company, quoted on the London Stock Exchange. Ithas been at the forefront of the UK's commercial property industry for over 60years. Today, the Group maintains its market leading position as the UK'slargest quoted property company by providing commercial accommodation andproperty services to a wide range of occupiers. The Group's objective is tocreate attractive, sustainable returns for its shareholders through a strategyof investing in commercial property in markets and activities where it hasexpertise and operational skills, where it can benefit from its risk managementskills and the active recycling of capital. Land Securities holds a market leading position in three areas of the UKcommercial property market: • Retail property, • London offices and • Property outsourcing. Its £10 billion combined investment portfolio includes over 10 million sq feetof office and retail space in Central London and 28 shopping centres and 30retail parks located across the UK. It has a substantial development programme with a number of development projectsincluding major retail-led urban regeneration schemes and Central Londonmixed-use developments. The Group is also masterplanning one of Europe'slargest regeneration schemes in Kent Thameside. The Group leads the market in property outsourcing where, through LandSecurities Trillium, it provides accommodation and property-related services tothe Department for Work and Pensions, the BBC, Norwich Union, Barclays Bank,DVLA and through a joint venture, Telereal, to BT. The Group is committed to environmental initiatives and community involvementrecognised by the Group's inclusion in the BiTC Corporate Responsibility Index,FTSE4Good Index and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. ENDS This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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