Shopping Centre Partnership

Capital & Regional PLC 25 January 2002 Capital & Regional plc 25 January 2002 CAPITAL & REGIONAL AND MORLEY FORM A £670 MILLION SHOPPING CENTRE PARTNERSHIP For immediate release SUMMARY • Capital & Regional plc ('Capital & Regional' or the 'Company') has exchanged contracts for the sale of all eight of its shopping centres for £467 million to The Mall Limited Partnership (the 'Mall Fund'), a new £670 million fund to be formed with clients of Morley Fund Management Limited ('Morley'). Clients of Morley will sell three shopping centres to the Mall Fund for a total consideration of £189 million. • Capital & Regional and clients of Morley will each invest £170 million in return for a 50 per cent. stake in the Mall Fund. • Capital & Regional will act as property and asset manager to the Mall Fund with Morley acting as fund manager. • The creation of the Mall Fund is in line with Capital & Regional's stated strategy and is intended to enable the Company to leverage its equity and management expertise across a larger number of properties. • In view of its size in relation to Capital & Regional, this transaction is conditional upon the approval of Capital & Regional shareholders. • Capital & Regional intends to return £50 million of capital to shareholders following the completion of the transaction. • A circular containing further details of the transaction and convening an Extraordinary General Meeting will be sent to Capital & Regional's shareholders shortly. Martin Barber, Chief Executive of Capital & Regional, commented: 'Morley is a leading asset manager with over £100 billion under management. We are delighted to be forming this fund with such a strong partner well placed to attract additional investors. We have enormous opportunities to grow the fund and deliver excellent returns to our shareholders as we leverage our skills and capital across a much larger asset base.' Ian Womack, Head of Property at Morley, commented: 'We believe that the powerful combination of C&R's proven shopping centre management skills and our fund management expertise should ensure that the fund generates excellent returns and make it very attractive to new investors. Our strategy is to grow to a value of at least £2 billion and we are convinced that this can be achieved given the strong management teams that have been brought together with the creation of the Mall Fund.' Credit Suisse First Boston (Europe) Limited and UBS Warburg Ltd. are acting as financial advisers and corporate brokers to Capital & Regional. DTZ Debenham Tie Leung advised Capital & Regional with regard to property aspects of the transaction and are retained as valuers to the Mall Fund This summary should be read in conjunction with the full text of the following announcement. ENQUIRIES Capital & Regional Telephone: +44 (0)207 932 8000 Martin Barber Morley Fund Management Telephone: +44 (0)207 809 6000 Ian Womack Hudson Sandler Telephone: +44 (0)207 796 4133 Michael Sandler / Andrew Hayes / Wendy Baker Credit Suisse First Boston (Europe) Limited Telephone: +44 (0)207 888 8888 Mark Seligman UBS Warburg Ltd. Telephone: +44 (0)207 567 8000 Tim Guest For immediate release 25 January 2002 CAPITAL & REGIONAL AND MORLEY FORM A £670 MILLION SHOPPING CENTRE PARTNERSHIP Introduction Capital & Regional plc ('Capital & Regional' or the 'Company') announces today that the Capital & Regional Group (the 'Group') has entered into agreements with Morley Fund Management Limited ('Morley'), a member of the CGNU group of companies, and its clients to form The Mall Limited Partnership (the 'Mall Fund '), a new property fund focused on in town covered shopping centres which will initially be owned jointly by the Group and clients of Morley. The Group will sell all eight of its shopping centres to the Mall Fund for a total consideration of £467 million. Clients of Morley will sell three shopping centres to the Mall Fund for a total consideration of £189 million. From their respective proceeds, under the terms of the agreements, the Group and clients of Morley will each pay £170 million in return for a 50 per cent. stake each in the Mall Fund. The remaining consideration of £297 million due to the Group will be received in cash. The creation of the Mall Fund is in line with Capital & Regional's stated strategy and is intended to enable the Company to leverage its equity and management expertise across a larger number of properties to generate greater value for shareholders. The Group will, going forward, receive income both from management fees on all the properties within the Mall Fund and from distributions from the Mall Fund (which will inter alia be dependent on the level of rental income from the properties within that fund). The Group will also benefit, although indirectly, from capital increases in the value of the properties within the Mall Fund, as such increases are expected to increase the value of the Group's investment in that fund. In view of its size in relation to Capital & Regional, this transaction is conditional upon the approval of shareholders. A circular containing further details of the transaction and convening an Extraordinary General Meeting will be sent to Capital & Regional's shareholders shortly. Background to and reasons for the proposed transaction (a) Capital & Regional's strategy In line with its stated strategy, Capital & Regional has over the past few years been changing from a diversified property investment company to a focused owner and manager of three types of property. Over the past two years some £286 million of non core assets have been sold. The three property types which the Company is focusing on are: • In town covered shopping centres, which will be branded as The Mall; • Out of town major retail parks, which will be branded as The Junction; and • Retail and leisure complexes branded as Xscape. In all these property types Capital & Regional has established highly specialised separate management teams, with the aim that each team should be a leader in its field. Morley has acknowledged the strength and depth of the Company's management in both retail parks and shopping centres. Consistent with specialisation in these three property types, the Company's strategy has also been to enter into joint ownership arrangements in order to leverage its management expertise to generate greater value for shareholders. Shareholders may recall that the Company announced on 4 October 1999 that it was in discussions regarding the establishment of a fund to invest in shopping centres. On that occasion the discussions did not lead to the creation of such a fund. Further, as stated in the Chairman and Chief Executive's Review in the Preliminary Results announcement dated 20 March 2001: 'We are convinced that joint ownership is attractive for investors and Capital & Regional. Investor partners can harness our skills in these management-intensive sectors of the property investment and development market. Using this approach, Capital & Regional leverages its equity and management to produce higher returns to shareholders. Over the years, Capital & Regional has had highly successful partnerships.' (b) Retail Park Investment Fund now branded 'The Junction' The Group entered into a separate transaction announced on 29 November 2001 to form a retail park investment fund with Morley ('the Retail Park Investment Fund '), initially with total assets of £336 million. Under the terms of the transaction, the Group transferred six of its retail parks into the Retail Park Investment Fund for a consideration of £165 million (of which £14 million was deferred). Of these proceeds £85 million has been re-invested in that fund. The Group is the property and asset manager for the Retail Park Investment Fund and has taken a 50 per cent. interest in that fund. Clients of Morley have transferred five of their retail parks into the Retail Park Investment Fund for a consideration of £171 million. Morley is the fund manager of the Retail Park Investment Fund and clients of Morley have also invested £85 million and taken the other 50 per cent. interest in that fund. On 3 January 2002 the formation of the Retail Park Investment Fund was completed and it is now branded as 'The Junction'. (c) The Mall Fund The Group is now proposing to enter into a second fund, the Mall Fund, again with clients of Morley as its investment partner, but this time with the Group and clients of Morley contributing portfolios of shopping centres. The Board of Directors of Capital & Regional (the 'Board') believes that the proposed transaction will provide the following benefits: • Through this transaction the Group will manage additional properties with good growth potential. The Group will earn management fees from both its former wholly owned properties and the properties contributed to the Mall Fund by clients of Morley; • The Board believes that the Company will achieve, through both the receipt of management fees and its participation in the Mall Fund, a higher return from each pound of invested capital in the Mall Fund than that achieved from each pound invested had the Group's shopping centres continued to be directly owned; • The proposed transaction will increase the financial flexibility of the Group, facilitating both the return of capital to shareholders and further investment in the Group's other activities; and • The Board believes that the proposed transaction should lead over time to an improvement in the Company's stock market rating as the benefits of the Company's overall strategy continue to be demonstrated and, in particular, as the investor community reappraises the Company as a result of the fee income generated from both the Mall Fund and the Retail Park Investment Fund. Description of the Mall Fund The Group and Morley have agreed to establish the Mall Fund, for the purposes of acquiring, developing and managing in town covered shopping centres, to be branded as 'The Mall', for investment purposes. The Mall Fund will be a UK limited partnership and will initially be 50 per cent. owned by the Group and 50 per cent. owned by clients of Morley. As at 25 December 2001, the Group's shopping centres were valued at £463 million. The consideration payable by the Mall Fund to the Group will be £467 million, which also includes (i) a property acquired by the Group since 25 December 2001, which will be sold by the Group valued at cost of £3 million, and (ii) the reimbursement to the Group of deferred consideration on a property being sold of £1 million, payable by the Group prior to completion. The shopping centres being transferred by clients of Morley were valued as at 25 December 2001 at £189 million. The value of the property assets of the Mall Fund on completion of the proposed transaction will therefore be £656 million. The Mall Fund portfolio will initially comprise 11 shopping centres. For the year ended 25 December 2000 the net rental income for the Company's shopping centres was £32 million. The Mall Fund portfolio will have a net annual rent of £51 million. The Mall Fund will have initial funding of £670 million comprising an investment of £170 million each by the Group and by clients of Morley and an initial debt facility of £330 million, which will be non-recourse to the Group. In addition the Mall Fund will have a rolling development facility of up to £5 million. Both facilities will be made available to the Mall Fund by Bank of Scotland. External borrowings of the Mall Fund are not expected to exceed 60 per cent. of the value of the Mall Fund's assets during the life of the Mall Fund. The Mall Fund will have a minimum term of 10 years, extendable for a further 5 years. At the end of its life, the Mall Fund would be wound up and surplus assets distributed to its partners. Morley will be the fund manager of the Mall Fund and Capital & Regional Property Management Limited will be the property and asset manager of the Mall Fund. The strategy of the Mall Fund is to seek further investors and to add further properties to the Mall Fund's portfolio. Details of the proposed transaction Subsidiaries of Capital & Regional have agreed to sell the Group's shopping centres to the Mall Fund for a consideration of £467 million. The Group has agreed to reinvest part of the proceeds by taking a 50 per cent. interest in the Mall Fund for a consideration of £170 million. The remaining sale consideration of £297 million due to the Group will be received in cash. The Group's initial capital investment in the Mall Fund will be £170 million. The Group will be permitted to sell down its interest provided that it retains an interest to the value of £50 million. Clients of Morley have also agreed to take a 50 per cent. stake in the Mall Fund for a consideration of £170 million and to sell three shopping centres to the Mall Fund for a consideration of £189 million. The investment and sale by clients of Morley and the Group are inter-conditional. If the proposed transaction is not approved by Capital & Regional shareholders, the Company will be responsible for Morley's costs up to a maximum of £2 million. Management Agreement As described above, Capital & Regional Property Management Limited will also be appointed to manage the properties of the Mall Fund on a day-to-day basis and to provide property investment advice to the Mall Fund under a property and asset management agreement (the 'Property and Asset Management Agreement'), which will be for the life of the Mall Fund unless terminated in accordance with its terms. Further details of the Property and Asset Management Agreement are contained in the appendix. As remuneration for its services under the Property and Asset Management Agreement, Capital & Regional Property Management Limited will be entitled, as described below, to (i) an annual management fee, (ii) performance fees and (iii) other management fees. Capital & Regional Property Management Limited will be entitled to an annual management fee based on the value of the properties to be managed under the Property and Asset Management Agreement being the aggregate of 0.5 per cent. of the value of the properties up to £500 million, 0.35 per cent. of the value of the properties from £500 million to £1 billion and 0.2 per cent. of the value of the properties in excess of £1 billion. Performance fees are calculated by reference to the financial performance of the Mall Fund measured against the Investment Property Databank index for all shopping centres (the 'Benchmark Index'). The Company becomes eligible for performance fees if the internal rate of return of the Mall Fund on a geared basis exceeds the higher of 12 per cent. and the return on the Benchmark Index plus 1 per cent. The performance fees are based on a percentage, varying between 15 per cent. and 25 per cent., of the excess income and capital returns of the Mall Fund above the performance hurdle. The performance fees are calculated on the basis of the Mall Fund's rolling three year average performance. There are transitional provisions in respect of the opening and closing periods. In addition, there are circumstances in which the performance fees can be clawed back or may not be payable notwithstanding the above. The Company is also entitled to other management fees as follows: • to retain all management fees recovered from tenants; • fees on the grant of leases of the aggregate of 8 per cent. of the first annual rent reserved up to £500,000, 6 per cent. of the next £500,000 and 4 per cent. of any balance after deducting tenant incentives and on the renewal of leases and on rent reviews the aggregate of 5 per cent. of the first revised annual rent reserved up to £1 million and 3.5 per cent. of any balance. If third party surveyors or agents are employed the fee is reduced to a maximum of 50 per cent. of these amounts. No fee will be payable where the rent increase is less than 5 per cent.; • fees on lease surrenders to be agreed by the fund manager on a case by case basis; • fees in respect of income other than rent generated from the properties (including car parking income) to be agreed by the fund manager on a case by case basis; • procurement fees for new properties acquired by the Mall Fund which are to be agreed with the fund manager of the Mall Fund on a case by case basis; • financing fees to be first approved and agreed by the fund manager of the Mall Fund; and • project co-ordinators' fees of 1.5 per cent. of all sums payable to building contractors and related professional fees in connection with the development, refurbishment and renewal/repairs outside the service charge of any of the properties. Use of proceeds, including return of capital, and financial effects of the proposed transaction The net proceeds from the proposed transaction will be used initially to reduce debt of the Group. The Company intends, subject to any necessary shareholder approvals, to return £50 million of capital to shareholders following the completion of the Mall Fund. An unaudited pro forma statement of consolidated net assets, for illustrative purposes only, has been prepared to reflect the proposed transaction as if it had occurred on 24 June 2001, and is attached as an appendix. On this pro forma basis the Group's fully diluted net assets per share would have reduced from 361.8p to 340.0p. On the same basis, the reduction of the Group's 'triple net' assets per share would have been 1.2p (from 329.6p to 328.4p); the amount of the reduction being mitigated by the tax benefit of retained capital allowances of £12 million on the disposal. The pro forma statement excludes the impact of the proposed return of capital to shareholders. The pro forma statement of consolidated net assets also shows that, reflecting the proposed transaction, the Group's pro forma gearing would, assuming the conversion of all the Company's convertible unsecured loan stock to equity, have reduced from 137 per cent. to 26 per cent. Information on Morley Morley is the UK based asset management arm of CGNU with over 30 years experience in managing segregated and pooled accounts for a wide and diverse range of clients. Morley manages over £104 billion of assets from investment offices in London, Boston, Tokyo and Singapore with well-established capabilities in all major asset classes and all major markets around the world. The establishment, operation and winding up of the Mall Fund constitute ' regulated activities' for the purposes of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ('FSMA'). Consequently, these activities must be conducted by a person authorised under the FSMA. Accordingly, Morley which is regulated by the Financial Services Authority, is appointed as operator under the Fund Manager's Agreement to carry out all such activities. ENQUIRIES Capital & Regional Telephone: +44 (0)207 932 8000 Martin Barber Morley Fund Management Telephone: +44 (0)207 809 6000 Ian Womack Hudson Sandler Telephone: +44 (0)207 796 4133 Michael Sandler / Andrew Hayes / Wendy Baker Credit Suisse First Boston (Europe) Limited Telephone: +44 (0)207 888 8888 Mark Seligman UBS Warburg Ltd. Telephone: +44 (0)207 567 8000 Tim Guest Credit Suisse First Boston (Europe) Limited, which is regulated in the United Kingdom by The Financial Services Authority, is acting for Capital & Regional and for no one else in connection with the matters referred to herein and will not be responsible to anyone other than Capital & Regional for providing the protections afforded to customers of Credit Suisse First Boston (Europe) Limited nor for providing advice in relation to the matters referred to herein. UBS Warburg Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of UBS AG, which is regulated in the United Kingdom by The Financial Services Authority, is acting for Capital & Regional and for no one else in connection with the matters referred to herein and will not be responsible to anyone other than Capital & Regional for providing the protections afforded to customers of UBS Warburg Ltd. nor for providing advice in relation to the matters referred to herein. Appendix 1. SUMMARY OF THE PROPERTY AND ASSET MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT FOR THE MALL FUND Under the Property and Asset Management Agreement which is to be entered into on completion of the Proposal, Capital & Regional Property Management Limited (the 'Property Manager') is to be appointed as the property manager and investment adviser to the Mall Fund. The appointment continues for so long as the Mall Fund continues (including any extensions) and terminates on the later of the termination of the Mall Fund and the sale of all of the properties. The Mall Fund has the right to terminate this agreement in certain circumstances including: • illegal, fraudulent or dishonest acts by the Property Manager or material defaults by the Property Manager; • a change of control of Capital & Regional plc (defined to be either 50 per cent. of its issued share capital being held by or on behalf of a single entity or group or 30 per cent. or more of its issued share capital being held by or on behalf of a single entity or group if, in addition, one half or more of its executive directors over the previous 12 months cease to be executive directors); • the Property Manager ceasing to be part of the Capital & Regional Group; • the Capital & Regional Group ceasing to have a minimum interest as limited partner in the Mall Fund of £50,000,000 but this provision ceases to apply if the Capital & Regional Group retires as limited partner in the Mall Fund at the expiration of the initial term expiring on 31 December 2011; • if the internal rate of return applied to the expenditure and receipts on the properties owned by the Mall Fund, on an ungeared basis in any three year rolling period, is less than that calculated by the Investment Property Databank index for All Shopping Centres; • by six months written notice given by 30 June 2011, if the Capital & Regional Group retires as limited partner in the Mall Fund at the expiration of the initial term expiring on 31 December 2011. The Property Manager also has the right to terminate this agreement at the expiration of the initial term. During the continuance of the Property and Asset Management Agreement, the Property Manager is obliged to procure that all companies in the Capital & Regional Group and any connected persons or companies will not acquire a legal or beneficial interest in any qualifying shopping centres unless the Property Manager has recommended (with such caveats as it considers appropriate if it considers the property is not suitable for the Mall Fund) the purchase of the property and the fund manager has not approved the purchase within ten working days, and in such event a company within the Capital & Regional Group or any connected person or company may acquire the relevant property on materially the same terms within a period of six months. The Property Manager shall be responsible for matters in relation to employees at the properties it manages. The Property Manager indemnifies the Mall Fund against liabilities arising from the employment of certain employees and others who claim to have been transferred to the employment of the Mall Fund or the Property Manager as a result of the sale of the properties by the Capital & Regional Group. The Mall Fund indemnifies the Property Manager against liabilities arising from employment related claims by certain employees other than where such claims arise from the negligence, incompetence or fault of the Property Manager. On termination of this agreement the Property Manager shall indemnify the Mall Fund (and in certain circumstances any successor property manager) in respect of liabilities arising from employment related claims in connection with such termination by: • persons who claim to have been transferred to the employment of the Mall Fund or any successor property manager (other than those employees whose names have been notified to the Mall Fund in accordance with the agreement); • employees whose claims arise from the negligence, incompetence or fault of the Property Manager prior to the termination; and • any head office staff on the basis that they are or may be an employee of the Mall Fund, the fund manager or any successor property manager as a result of the provisions of this agreement or its termination. All obligations of the Property Manager under this agreement are guaranteed by Capital & Regional. As remuneration for its services, the Property Manager is entitled to the following fees: • to retain all management fees recovered from tenants; • an annual management fee based on the value of the properties to be managed under the Property and Asset Management Agreement being the aggregate of 0.5 per cent. of the value of the properties up to £500 million, 0.35 per cent. of the value of the properties from £500 million to £1 billion and 0.2 per cent. of the value of the properties in excess of £1 billion; • fees on the grant of leases of the aggregate of 8 per cent. of the first rent reserved up to £500,000, 6 per cent. of the next £500,000 and 4 per cent. of any balance after deducting tenant incentives and on the renewal of leases and on rent reviews the aggregate of 5 per cent. of the first rent reserved up to £1 million and 3.5 per cent. of any balance. If third party surveyors or agents are employed the fee is reduced to a maximum of 50 per cent. of these amounts. No fee will be payable where the rent increase is less than 5 per cent.; • fees on lease surrenders to be agreed by the fund manager on a case by case basis; • fees in respect of income other than rent generated from the properties (including car parking income) to be agreed by the fund manager on a case by case basis; • procurement fees which are to be agreed with the fund manager on a case by case basis; • financing fees to be first approved and agreed by the fund manager; • project co-ordinators fees of 1.5 per cent. of all sums payable to building contractors and related professional fees in connection with the development, refurbishment and renewal/repairs outside the service charge of any of the properties; PERFORMANCE FEE • a performance fee calculated by reference to the financial performance of the Mall Fund measured against the Investment Property Databank index for All Shopping Centres ('Shopping Centre IPD') in specific 'Performance Periods ' (as described below); • for a performance fee to be payable in respect of a Performance Period, the Partnership IRR (as described below) must exceed (S) the internal rate of return as calculated by the Investment Property Databank expressed as a percentage per annum for All Shopping Centres (the ' Benchmark') plus 1 per cent.; and (S) 12 per cent., over the Performance Period to which it relates, but then is only payable to the extent that payment of the performance fee and payment of the fund manager's performance fee will not result in the Partnership IRR (including within such calculation performance fees payable or repayable) falling below the Benchmark plus 0.5 per cent. over the relevant Performance Period; • the Partnership IRR is the discount rate expressed as a percentage per annum that when applied to the expenditure and receipts of the Mall Fund (excluding the Property Manager's and fund manager's performance fees), on a geared basis, over a given period produces a net present value of zero; • the first Performance Period is from 1 March 2002 to 31 December 2002; the second is for the period from 1 March 2002 to 31 December 2003; the third is for the period 1 March 2002 to 31 December 2004; the fourth is from 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2005 and thereafter Performance Periods are on a three year rolling basis. • performance fees are calculated by reference to the net asset value of the Mall Fund at the beginning of each Performance Period (adjusted to take account of increases or decreases of capital, loans or advances by the limited partners during the Performance Period). The fee payable in respect of each Performance Period is one third of 15 per cent. of the amount by which the Partnership IRR exceeds the higher of Shopping Centre IPD (expressed as a percentage) plus 1 per cent. and 12 per cent. per annum, (the 'first threshold') with an additional one-third of 5 per cent. of the amount by which the Partnership IRR exceeds the higher of Shopping Centre IPD plus 3 per cent. and 14 per cent. per annum, together with an additional one- third of 5 per cent. of the amount by which the Partnership IRR exceeds the higher of Shopping Centre IPD plus 5 per cent. and 16 per cent. per annum. • the performance fee is payable eleven months in arrears so that, for example, for the Performance Period from 1 March 2002 to 31 December 2003, it is payable on 1 December 2004. • for the last year of this agreement an additional performance fee is also payable. • where any Performance Period does not comprise complete calendar years, adjustments are to be made. • if the calculation of the first threshold (other than in the first Performance Period) results in a negative figure, then there is a clawback provision so that the Property Manager is required to repay to the Mall Fund the negative amount up to a maximum of the amount of performance fees paid to the Property Manager for the previous two years (except in 2004 when it shall only relate to the previous year) of the relevant Performance Period. The above fees are exclusive of VAT. 2. MALL FUND SUMMARY Area (sq ft) Rent (£m) ERV (£m) MORLEY PROPERTIES Bexley Heath 395,000 4.5 7.1 Ilford 355,000 5.8 6.1 Edgware 195,000 3.6 3.7 CAPITAL & REGIONAL PROPERTIES Aberdeen 200,000 3.2 3.6 Barnsley 170,000 2.0 2.4 Birmingham 300,000 9.8 11.2 Epsom 358,000 5.0 6.1 Falkirk 170,000 4.0 4.6 Romford 320,000 2.0 2.9 Walthamstow 281,000 3.5 4.3 Wood Green 670,000 7.5 9.6 Totals 3,414,000 50.9 61.6 3. JUNCTION FUND SUMMARY Area (sq ft) Rent (£m) ERV (£m) MORLEY PROPERTIES Leeds 140,000 0.7 1.4 Leicester 169,000 2.0 2.4 Maidstone 160,000 2.7 3.0 Oxford 138,000 1.6 2.0 Sheffield 221,000 2.4 3.3 CAPITAL & REGIONAL PROPERTIES Aylesbury 94,000 0.6 0.8 Beckton 192,000 1.0 2.9 Hull 272,000 1.1 3.8 Renfrew 243,000 2.6 3.0 Oldbury 37,000 0.1 0.1 Wembley 259,000 1.6 2.7 Totals 1,925,000 16.4 25.4 4. PRO FORMA STATEMENT Part 2 to follow END This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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