19th Jun 2006 10:15
19 June 2006 Slough Estates in major 325,000 sq ft biotech letting in North America Also announces additional 43,000 sq ft lease with new client Slough Estates International ("SEI") has signed a major new leasing anddevelopment arrangement with one of the world's largest biotechnology companieswith a market capitalisation of over $80bn. This deal reinforces SEI's positionas a pre-eminent developer and owner of biotechnology facilities in the SanFrancisco Bay area.The existing tenant requires a significant expansion of its current space toaccommodate recent acquisitions and future expansion plans in the Bay area. Thetenant has committed to three buildings totalling approximately 325,000 squarefeet at SEI's biotechnology campus in the City of South San Francisco with anoption on a fourth building with a further 85,000 square feet. Following thecompletion of these new commitments and of one other building already underconstruction this one tenant will be leasing approximately 755,000 square feetfrom SEI.Although the financial terms of the agreement remain confidential, the initialyield achieves SEI's target levels for this prime market, and the contractedfuture rental performance is attractive.SEI expects to invest about $170 million in the development of the project.Construction will commence immediately and will comprise tenant improvementsfor an existing vacant 81,000 square foot facility at Britannia Oyster Point Iand construction of the first two new buildings at Britannia Oyster Point II.Delivery is expected in 2008.This major new leasing agreement further demonstrates the attractiveness ofSouth San Francisco as a location of choice for the biotech industry, inparticular maintaining the growth momentum of the Bay Area biotech cluster. Itreinforces the quality of SEI's development franchise in these biotech markets,with two of the largest biotech companies in the world having firmlyconsolidated their presence in the South San Francisco market.Following the completion of this campus and other contracted development in thepipeline, SEI's biotech presence in the both San Diego and in the San FranciscoBay Area will grow from 4.3 million square feet to about 5.4 million squarefeet, including 4.7 million square feet in the San Francisco Bay Area and 2.8million square feet specifically in South San Francisco.Ian Coull, Chief Executive of Slough Estates plc said:"In successfully agreeing new terms with one of the world's largestbiotechnology companies, we continue to demonstrate how our US division istaking a lead in the biotech sector. I am particularly pleased as this is anexisting client: this kind of long term close client relationship is typical ofSlough Estates USA's brand profile and has been a key contributor to theexpansion of the business franchise. This agreement demonstrates how wecontinue to maximise the value of the US business. Our confidence in the SanFrancisco Bay area and in biotechnology as a sector of focus has been fullyjustified."43,000 lease with OncoMed Pharmaceuticals IncIn addition to this agreement, SEI has also signed a new agreement with a fastgrowing, early-stage biotech company, which develops novel therapeutics thattarget cancer cells. The 7-year lease starts April 2007 on a 43,000 square footfacility on the Britannia Seaport Centre site. -ends- For further information please contact:Slough Estates plc Maitland Michael Waring Colin Browne Tel: 01753 213335 Tel: 0207 379 5151 Slough Estates InternationalSlough Estates is the leading European provider of flexible business space andowns business parks in Europe and North America, with four million squaremetres of business space and over 1600 customers (as at 31 December 2005).Slough Estates' properties are in suburban locations in close proximity to themain business centres, where there is long term demand for businessaccommodation to serve these key economic regions. The company's mainactivities are currently based around London, Brussels, Paris, Dƒ¼sseldorf,Amsterdam, San Francisco and San Diego and the company continues to develop newbusiness parks with the long term objective of building shareholder value andenhancing its reputation for quality buildings offering excellent value tocustomers. www.sloughestates.comENDSLOUGH ESTATES PLCRelated Shares:
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