Aon signs Pre-let at The Leadenhall Building

RNS Number : 0826S

British Land Co PLC

15 November 2011

 



                                                   15 November 2011

Aon Signs Pre-let for 191,000 sq ft of The Leadenhall Building

British Land and Oxford Properties are pleased to announce that their 50:50 joint venture has exchanged a binding Agreement for Lease with Aon in the UK and Aon Corporation, for a pre-letting of 191,000 sq ft at The Leadenhall Building, London, EC3. The letting represents over 30% of the 610,000 sq ft office tower which is under construction for delivery in mid-2014.

Aon will occupy the lower 10 floors (levels 4-13) of the 47-storey building for an average lease term of 19 years to first break. Aon will also have options to take up further space totalling up to 85,000 sq ft on levels 14-18.

At 736 ft (224m) high, The Leadenhall Building will be a new icon for London and occupies a prominent position in the heart of the insurance market, opposite Lloyd's of London.  In August, the joint venture announced the appointment of main contractor Laing O'Rourke and construction is underway and on programme.

Including Aon, over 50% of British Land's total £1.1 billion London office development programme, and 62% of City developments, have now been pre-let or pre-sold in advance of completion between the end of 2012 and 2014.

Chris Grigg, Chief Executive of British Land said, "This significant letting to a leading global business is good news for the City and demonstrates the success of our commitment to creating well located world class buildings that provide long term value to occupiers. I am very pleased to welcome Aon to The Leadenhall Building and continuing our well established relationship with them."

Paul Brundage, Executive Vice President, Senior Managing Director Europe of Oxford Properties said, "This deal is a great endorsement of Oxford's investment in The Leadenhall Building and partnership with British Land. Oxford has an excellent global relationship with Aon and we are pleased to be able to expand on this in London."

Robert Brown, CEO Aon Limited said, "We are delighted to have chosen The Leadenhall Building as our new London headquarters. The Aon Centre at The Leadenhall Building places us at the heart of the City's insurance sector and the building's impressive location and offices reflect our standing as the leading global professional services firm focused on risk and human capital management. The UK, and indeed London, remain an integral part of Aon Corp's strategy. The decision to move to The Leadenhall Building confirms our commitment here and offers us an ideal platform to continue to grow our business and deliver the best of Aon to our clients."

Aon was advised by CBRE and British Land and Oxford Properties were advised by DTZ and Jones Lang LaSalle.

Enquiries:

British Land:

Investor Relations

Sally Jones, British Land                                                            020 7467 2942

Media

Pip Wood, British Land                                                               020 7467 2838

Guy Lamming/ Gordon Simpson, Finsbury                                   020 7251 3801

Oxford Properties:

Ceri Edwards, Redwood Consulting                                             020 7828 5553

Notes to Editors

About British Land

British Land is one of Europe's largest Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) with total assets, owned or managed, of £15.6 billion (British Land share £10.2 billion), as valued at 30 September 2011. Through our property and finance expertise we attract experienced partners to create properties and environments which are home to over 1,000 different organisations and visited byover 250 million people each year. Our property portfolio is focused on prime retail locations and Central London offices which attract high quality occupiers committed to long leases. Our occupancy rate of 98% and average lease length to first break of 12 years are among the highest of the major UK REITs.

Retail assets account for 62% of our portfolio, over 80% of which are located at prime out-of-town sites. Comprising around 27 million sq ft of retail space across 91 retail warehouse properties, 99 superstores, 12 shopping centres and 10 department stores, the retail portfolio is generally modern, flexible and adaptable to a wide range of formats. Active asset management delivers attractive space to both retailers and consumers.

London offices, located in the City and West End, comprise 33% of the portfolio (rising to an estimated 38% on completion of current developments) with 7 million sq ft of office space including Broadgate, the premier City office campus (50% share) and Regent's Place in the West End. We are investing £1.1 billion to create Central London's largest committed office development programme which will deliver 2.2 million sq ft of high quality space by 2014, including a 700,000 sq ft building at 5 Broadgate, the 610,000 sq ft Leadenhall Building in London's insurance district and a 500,000 sq ft mixed office and residential scheme at Regent's Place in the West End.

Our size and substance demands a responsible approach to business and we focus on five areas which matter most to us and our key stakeholders: managing buildings efficiently; developing sustainable buildings; enhancing biodiversity; exceeding customers' expectations and focusing on local communities. We believe leadership on issues such as sustainability helps drive our performance and is core to our corporate aim of building the best REIT in Europe.

Further details can be found on the British Land website at www.britishland.com

About Oxford Properties 

Oxford Properties Group, the real estate arm of the OMERS Worldwide Group of Companies, is a global platform for real estate investment, development and management, with over 1,300 employees and approximately $19 billion of real assets that it manages for itself and on behalf of its co-owners and investment partners. Established in 1960, Oxford was acquired in 2001 by OMERS, one of Canada's largest pension funds with over $53 billion in assets. Oxford has regional offices in Toronto, London and New York, each with investment, development and management professionals who have deep real estate expertise and local market insight.

For more information visit: www.oxfordproperties.com

About Aon

Aon Corporation (NYSE: AON) is the leading global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing. Through its more than 59,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to deliver distinctive client value via innovative and effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. Aon's industry-leading global resources and technical expertise are delivered locally in over 120 countries. Named the world's best broker by Euromoney magazine's 2008, 2009 and 2010 Insurance Survey, Aon also ranked highest on Business Insurance's listing of the world's insurance brokers based on commercial retail, wholesale, reinsurance and personal lines brokerage revenues in 2008 and 2009. A.M. Best deemed Aon the number one insurance broker based on revenues in 2007, 2008 and 2009, and Aon was voted best insurance intermediary 2007-2010, best reinsurance intermediary 2006-2010, best captives manager 2009-2010, and best employee benefits consulting firm 2007-2009 by the readers of Business Insurance. Visit http://www.aon.com for more information on Aon and http://www.aon.com/manchesterunited to learn about Aon's global partnership and shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.

Follow Aon on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/aoncorp

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