Pre-let Heads of Terms agreed with Amlin

RNS Number : 6211T

British Land Co PLC

17 December 2012

 



17 December, 2012

British Land and Oxford Properties Agree Heads of Terms with Amlin for Pre-let of

111,000 sq ft at The Leadenhall Building, EC3

The British Land Company ("British Land") and Oxford Properties ("Oxford") announce that their 50:50 joint venture has agreed non-binding Heads of Terms with the leading specialist insurance and re-insurance business  Amlin plc ("Amlin") for a 111,000 sq ft pre-let at The Leadenhall Building. Amlin has agreed to take levels 18-24 and level 45 with options to take up to a further 36,500 sq ft. On completion of the letting to Amlin, The Leadenhall Building will be 51% pre-let. Amlin will be relocating to The Leadenhall Building from its current offices in the Aviva Tower in March 2015.

Currently under construction and on programme for completion in mid-2014, the 736 ft (224m) Leadenhall Building will be one of the tallest and most iconic buildings in London. It combines a spectacular open ground floor galleria, retail and restaurant facilities and efficient and adaptable office space. The building is located in a prominent City location, directly opposite Lloyd's, at the heart of the global insurance sector.

Richard Hextall, Amlin plc's Group Finance & Operations Director, comments, "We have conducted a thorough review of our future accommodation options together with Savills over the past year and have decided that The Leadenhall Building will provide the best solution for our expanding Group and London operations.  Leadenhall will provide our staff with perfectly located offices in this elegant, high rise building and we look forward to moving to our new headquarters in 2015."

Tim Roberts, Head of Offices at British Land said, "We are delighted that Amlin has chosen The Leadenhall Building for its new offices. This will be our second major pre-letting at the building and it shows the considerable appeal of our offer - highly specified and well located buildings of strong architectural quality coupled with a commitment to occupier service."

Paul Brundage, Executive Vice President, Senior Managing Director Europe of Oxford Properties said, "This major letting to Amlin is further testament to the world class credentials of The Leadenhall Building - both in terms of the location and prestige of the building itself and the flexibility and quality of the space on offer. This second, significant pre-letting also demonstrates the strength of our joint venture with British Land."

For Information Contact

Investor Relations

Sally Jones, British Land                                    020 7467 2942

Media 
Pip Wood, British Land                                       020 7467 2838

Gordon Simpson, Finsbury Group/                       020 7251 3801

Guy Lamming, Finsbury Group

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 £16.3 billion (British Land share £10.4 billion), as valued at 30 September 2012. 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 by over 300 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 97.3% and average lease length to first break of 11.1 years are among the highest of the major UK REITs.

Retail assets account for 60% of our portfolio with around 28 million sq ft of retail space across 82 retail parks, 92 superstores, 13 shopping centres and 9 department stores. The retail portfolio is modern, flexible and adaptable to a wide range of formats and our active asset management delivers space which is attractive and meets the needs of both retailers and consumers. 80% of our retail parks have open A1 consent.

London offices, located in the City and West End, comprise 35% of the portfolio (which will rise to an estimated 40% on completion of current developments). Our 7 million sq ft of high quality offices includes Broadgate, the premier City office campus (50% share) and Regent's Place in the West End. Over the last 2 years, we have committed £1.2 billion to create Central London's largest committed office development programme which will deliver 2.3 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.

Managing our environmental, economic and social impacts is central to the way we do business and deliver value for our shareholders. We assess the issues that matter most to us and our stakeholders on an on-going basis and, where appropriate, adjust our strategic focus to reflect this. We focus on managing our buildings efficiently, supporting communities, developing sustainable buildings and engaging our staff. For each of these priorities we are targeting our efforts and resources at initiatives where we can achieve the biggest impacts.

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

About Oxford Properties

Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2010, Oxford Properties Group is one of North America's largest commercial real estate investment, development and management firms. Oxford oversees and manages approximately C$17 billion of real estate for itself and on behalf of its co-owners and investment partners including headquarter buildings and development projects such as the Royal Bank Plaza in Toronto, the West Side Yards in New York, Watermark Place in London and Centennial Place in Calgary. Oxford's investments include office, retail, hotel, industrial and multi-family residential properties. Oxford is the real estate arm of the OMERS Worldwide Group of Companies and has regional head offices in Toronto, New York and London. For more information visit: www.oxfordproperties.com.

About Amlin plc

Amlin plc is a leading independent insurance group operating in the Lloyd's market through Amlin London and additionally in the UK, Continental European and Bermudian markets. Amlin specialises in providing insurance cover to commercial enterprises across a broad range of risks including aviation, marine and international property & casualty. Amlin also provides reinsurance protection to other insurance companies around the world. A FTSE 250 quoted company domiciled in the UK, Amlin's Syndicate 2001 is highly rated at 'A+' (Excellent) by AM Best and 'A1' by Moody's.

 

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