Results of Placing

RNS Number : 8367Z

British Land Co PLC

12 March 2013

 



THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN ARE NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, JERSEY, SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE SAME WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT AN OFFER OF SECURITIES IN THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, SOUTH AFRICA, AUSTRALIA, JAPAN, JERSEY OR ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE SAME WOULD BE UNLAWFUL.

12 March 2013

RESULTS OF PLACING

The British Land Company PLC (the "Company" or "British Land") is pleased to announce the successful completion of the placing of ordinary shares announced earlier today (the "Placing").

A total of 89,674,604 new ordinary shares in British Land ("Placing Shares") have been placed by Morgan Stanley, UBS and Goldman Sachs (the "Bookrunners") at a price of 550 pence per Placing Share, raising total gross proceeds of approximately £493 million for the Company. The Placing Shares being issued represent approximately 9.99 per cent of the issued ordinary share capital of British Land prior to the Placing.

The Placing Shares will, when issued, be issued credited as fully paid and will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares of 25 pence in the capital of British Land, including the right to receive all dividends and other distributions declared after the date of the issue.

Applications have been made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to the Official List of the Financial Services Authority and to be admitted to trading by the London Stock Exchange ("LSE") on its main market for listed securities (the "Admission"). It is expected that Admission will take place on 8.00 a.m. on 15 March 2013 (at which time the Placing will become unconditional) and that dealings in the Placing Shares on the LSE's main market for listed securities will commence at the same time.

Morgan Stanley and UBS acted as Joint Bookrunners and Corporate Brokers in respect of the Placing. Goldman Sachs acted as Joint Bookrunner in connection with the Placing.

Capitalised terms used but not defined in this announcement have the same meaning as set out in the placing announcement of the Company released at 7.00 a.m. (GMT) today.

For further information, please contact:

British Land
Investor Relations
Sally Jones	020 7467 2942
Media
Pip Wood	020 7467 2838
Morgan Stanley Joint Bookrunner and Joint Corporate Broker	020 7425 8000
Jonathan Lane Nick White Bill Hutchings
UBS Joint Bookrunner and Joint Corporate Broker	020 7567 8000
Simon Warshaw Tim Waddell Christopher Smith
Goldman Sachs Joint Bookrunner	020 7774 1000
Anthony Gutman Philip Shelley David Matheson
Finsbury Group
Gordon Simpson Guy Lamming	020 7251 3801

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Notes to Editors

About the Company

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 receive over 300 million visits 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 UK occupancy rate of 97.7% and average lease length to first break of 11 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.

Disclaimer

This Announcement is for information only and, save as expressly set out herein, does not constitute an offer or invitation to underwrite, subscribe for or otherwise acquire or dispose of any securities or investment advice in any jurisdiction, including without limitation, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Jersey or South Africa. Persons needing advice should consult an independent financial adviser.

This Announcement has been issued by and is the sole responsibility of the Company.  No representation or warranty, express or implied, is or will be made as to, or in relation to, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by the Bookrunners or by any of their respective affiliates or agents as to or in relation to, the accuracy or completeness of this Announcement or any other written or oral information made available to or publicly available to any interested party or its advisers, and any liability therefor is expressly disclaimed.

Each Bookrunner is acting for the Company in connection with the Placing and no-one else and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to its clients nor for providing advice in relation to the Placing.

The distribution of this Announcement and the placing of the Placing Shares as set out in this Announcement in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law.  No action has been taken by the Company or the Bookrunners that would permit an offering of such shares or possession or distribution of this Announcement or any other offering or publicity material relating to such shares in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required.  Persons into whose possession this Announcement comes are required by the Company and the Bookrunners to inform themselves about, and to observe, such restrictions.

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties and actual results, and events could differ materially from those currently being anticipated as reflected in such forward-looking statements. The terms "expect", "should be", "will be" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Factors which may cause future outcomes to differ from those foreseen in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: general economic and business conditions; demand for the Company's products and services; competitive factors in the industries in which the Company operates; exchange rate fluctuations; legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments; political risks; terrorism, acts of war and pandemics; changes in law and legal interpretations affecting the Company's intellectual property rights and internet communications; and the impact of technological change. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of such statements and, except as required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The information contained in this Announcement is subject to change without notice and neither the Company nor the Bookrunners assume any responsibility or obligation to update publicly or review any of the forward-looking statements contained herein.

Any indication in this Announcement of the price at which ordinary shares have been bought or sold in the past cannot be relied upon as a guide to future performance.  No statement in this Announcement is intended to be a profit forecast and no statement in this Announcement should be interpreted to mean that earnings per share of the Company for the current or future financial years would necessarily match or exceed the historical published earnings per share of the Company. 

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