This Week's London Deal Sheet
A weekly compilation of Greater London and beyond's biggest leases, sales, financing deals, construction updates and personnel moves.
Property technology firm IMMO has announced plans to spend £1B on buying and retrofitting thousands of homes for rent.
The firm, which raised £75M in equity from what it says was Europe’s largest-ever Series B funding round, aims to acquire, retrofit and manage the homes, which it says could save “households, or the taxpayer, millions of pounds”.
IMMO will spend approximately £1B to acquire more than 3,000 homes across Britain by 2025, bringing them up to an EPC C rating where possible. It estimated that the investment in retrofitting the houses, which is approximately £7,500 per home, would save a total of £25M.
IMMO said it secured $2.5B in capital commitments for its broader European investment plan, which will eventually see the firm acquire and manage 10,000 homes across Europe.
SALES
Fund manager Barings has acquired eight prime logistics sites from NFU Mutual for £234M.
The eight assets are situated across the UK, comprising a total area of 1.5M SF. By floor area 53% of the portfolio is located in the Midlands, 22% in the south west, 16% in the south east and 9% in the north west.
Barings was represented by Acre and CMS. NFU Mutual was advised by Burbage Realty, Knight Frank and Gowlings.
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Schroders Capital’s real estate team has sold a Whitehall office to Legal & General for £155M. Schroders, acting on behalf of Greater Manchester Pension Fund, has completed the sale of 3-8 Whitehall Place, reflecting a yield of 3.5% and a capital value of £1,630 per SF.
3-8 Whitehall Place is a 95K SF office that is fully let to the UK government until June 2029. The UK government pays a rent of £5.8M, reflecting an average rent of £61 per SF.
CBRE and DLA Piper acted for GMPF. Cushman & Wakefield and Clifford Chance acted for the purchaser.
FINANCE
Build-to-rent developer Get Living and Watkin Jones have agreed to a £71M forward funding deal to build 214 new rental homes in Leatherhead, Surrey.
The development will be the first operational BTR scheme in the town and will offer residents one-, two- and three-bed apartments, including 36 discount market-rent homes alongside 3K SF of amenity space.
This is Watkin Jones and Get Living’s second deal since April, when the organisations agreed on a £136M forward funding deal to deliver 551 BTR homes at Sherlock Street, Birmingham.
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Investec Real Estate has agreed to provide £13.5M in the form of a development loan for a new residential scheme in Clapham South. The funder has provided Landhold Developments with a £13.5M senior facility to fund the construction of 36 high-quality homes in the Clapham Quarter. The new homes will be completed in Q4 2023.
LEASES
Fashion giant LVMH has signed up to take 23.3K SF across five floors at Bellworth Developments’ Lancer Square scheme.
The fashion firm, whose brands include Christian Dior, Givenchy and Guerlain, will move its UK headquarters to the new office in Kensington later this year. The firm has signed a 10-year lease on the new development, which is located close to Kensington Palace. It is currently located on Oxford Street.
Delivered by Bellworth Developments, a wholly owned property development arm of Malaysian conglomerate LGB Group, and managed by London-based CIT, Lancer Square boasts 47K SF of Class-A office space, as well as a 1,800 SF private roof terrace.
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Apple has opened a new 20K SF flagship retail store at the Knightsbridge Estate in west London. The mixed-use estate is owned by Olayan Group and managed by Chelsfield, which has led a redevelopment of part of the scheme, creating a new Class-A office building, 33 luxury residential apartments for the rental market, a rooftop restaurant and a ground-floor café.
PEOPLE
Private equity firm Crestbridge has promoted Brian Jemwa to head up its real estate funds division. Jemwa will take on responsibility for providing leadership and direction to Crestbridge’s multijurisdictional real estate funds team.
Jemwa has particular expertise in financial and risk management and control assurance reporting and has worked with a range of key clients at Crestbridge since joining the firm in Jersey in 2015.
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Aviva Investors has appointed two new recruits to its expanding pan-European real estate team.
Lise Marbach Deguine and Theophile Perrin are set to join its Paris office. Deguine joins from Arkea Real Estate where she spent three years as an investment manager.
Perrin has joins as an investment analyst from CBRE, having recently graduated from ESSEC Business School.
