Acquisition of Lease Finance Companies

British Land Co PLC
12 April 2000


BRITISH LAND REPAYS SECURED MEADOWHALL LEASES
New £300 Million Unsecured Facility

The British Land Company PLC has taken an early opportunity to acquire five
companies that provided lease finance in respect of the Meadowhall Shopping
Centre, Sheffield, from Lloyds TSB Leasing Limited, CAPITAL BANK plc and HSBC
Asset Finance (UK) Limited.  The aggregate consideration, including the
repayment of intra group debt, was £263.3 million.

In addition, other leases from Lloyds TSB Leasing Group have been surrendered
for a consideration of £23.1 million.

The total consideration paid of £286.4 million has been funded from existing
unsecured bank facilities, and effectively extinguishes the third party lease
financing that was in place at the time British Land acquired Meadowhall in
July 1999.  As a £75 million secured loan was repaid in December 1999,
Meadowhall is now owned on a fully unsecured basis.  

The stream of payments of the lease finance was based on interest rates
significantly higher than those prevailing today.  This differential was
reflected in a reduction of £92 million in the consideration actually paid by
British Land on the acquisition of Meadowhall. 

British Land's unsecured bank facilities have recently been augmented by a
£300 million five year underwritten commitment from Barclays Bank PLC which is
currently being syndicated.

Contacts

John Ritblat, Chairman                           The British Land Company PLC
John Weston Smith, Finance Director              020 7486 4466