19th Oct 2006 07:00
Great Portland Estates PLC19 October 2006 Great Portland expands in Hanover Square and on Oxford Street 19 October 2006 Great Portland Estates plc ("GPE") announces, in separate transactions; • A West End property swap with The Prudential Assurance Company Ltd ("Prudential") with a combined value of £86.9 million. GPE has bought 65/71 New Bond Street, W1 and 192/194 Oxford Street, W1 from Prudential for a total of £51.6 million. GPE has sold 293/295 Oxford Street and 14 Hanover Square, W1 to Prudential for £35.3 million. The balance of £16.3 million will be settled in cash by GPE. • The acquisition of 20 Hanover Square from a private investor for £15.0 million. Put together with recent acquisitions, these transactions provide GPE with twomajor West End holdings as illustrated on the attached map. http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/6922k_-2006-10-18.pdf In the property swap, the two acquired holdings together provide 57,400 sq ft ofwhich 27,300 sq ft is retail space with 30,100 sq ft being office space. Theproperties are multi-let and produce a current rental income of £2.6 million perannum with a rental value estimated at £2.9 million per annum. The property sold(293/295 Oxford Street and 14 Hanover Square) comprises 26,600 sq ft of which7,100 sq ft is retail space and 19,500 sq ft is office space and adjoins anexisting Prudential holding. The building was refurbished by GPE earlier thisyear and the office lease restructured with solicitors Harbottle & Lewisincreasing the rent and extending the lease term certain to 2017. The office andfour retail tenants produce a current rental income of £1.7 million per annumwith a rental value estimated at £1.8 million per annum. 20 Hanover Square comprises 23,100 sq ft of offices let to Knight Frank at anannual rent of £0.5 million per annum with a rental value estimated at £0.9million per annum. Together with 65/71 New Bond Street and the adjoining properties at 18/19Hanover Square, purchased in August, GPE has now assembled an important 1.2 acreland holding bounded by Hanover Square, Tenterden Street and New Bond Streetproviding the Group with a healthy income return and multiple future developmentopportunities. The purchase of 192/194 Oxford Street combines with 184/190 Oxford Streetacquired in September last year to create a wholly owned island site in aresurgent section of this important retailing pitch. Toby Courtauld, Chief Executive of GPE, said: "Our swap transaction with ThePrudential completes the assembly of two prime West End holdings. Both sitesoffer good scale, are located in rapidly improving micro-locations and haveplenty of interesting opportunities to explore. The sale of 293/295 OxfordStreet and 14 Hanover Square is in line with our strategy of recycling capitalout of mature assets". PRUPIM, one of the leading real estate investment managers in the UK,facilitated the deal on behalf of its client, The Prudential Assurance Company. John Wythe, Head of Life Funds for PRUPIM comments: "This deal makes sense forall. In each case the two companies have had adjoining ownerships and seebenefit in rationalizing and consolidating these. In our client's case, they nowown an outstanding site comprising 293/297 Oxford Street and the whole of thewest side of Harewood Place and numbers 14 and 15 Hanover Square." Contacts: Toby Courtauld Chief Executive Great Portland Estates plc 020 7647 3042Robert Noel Property Director Great Portland Estates plc 020 7647 3043John Wythe Head of Life Funds PRUPIM 020 7548 6976 FinsburyJames Murgatroyd 020 7251 3801Gordon Simpson This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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