This Week's London Deal Sheet

The Deal Sheet is a weekly compilation of Greater London and beyond's biggest leases, sales, financing deals, construction updates and personnel moves. Have news you’d like to submit? Email mark.faithfull@bisnow.com. 

Royal London Asset Management Property has sold a 1.2M SF national portfolio of industrial and logistics assets to Ares Management Real Estate funds for £200M. The portfolio comprises a mix of multitenant industrial and single-let distribution assets with a tenant lineup spread across a wide range of industries.

The portfolio is located in south-east and Midlands logistics markets, such as Hams Hall, Wellingborough and Crawley. Royal London Asset Management Property will continue to manage the portfolio.

“Our acquisition of these assets underscores our positive outlook for the UK logistics market and our ability to take advantage of evolving industry tailwinds over the long-term,” Ares Head of European Real Estate Wilson Lamont said in a statement.

“Following a period of significant repricing, we are seeing signs of stabilisation in certain pockets of the European real estate markets — starting in the UK — and we anticipate a notable increase in transaction activity in 2024."

DEALS

Cubex and joint venture partner Alara Investments have made their first unconditional acquisition as a partnership of a brownfield site located in the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone in central Bristol. The site is close to the University of Bristol’s new Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus, which is due to open to 4,500 new students in 2026.

The scheme will have a gross development value in excess of £100M, and the plan is to develop a 550-bedroom purpose-built student accommodation scheme.

Cubex said it is in consultation with Bristol City Council as well as other stakeholders and will be submitting planning within the coming months. This scheme will be Cubex’s first venture into student accommodation and forms part of its strategy into the wider living sector.

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Franklin Real Asset Advisors, on behalf of the Franklin Templeton Social Infrastructure Strategy, has completed the acquisition of a portfolio of six care homes comprising 406 beds across north-west England. The assets will be operated by a regional care home operator on a new 35-year lease.

“The acquisition not only allows us to preserve the existing care home beds but also reactivates approximately 100 beds,” Franklin Real Asset Advisors Managing Director Klaus Schmid said in a statement. “This effort will contribute to addressing the shortfall of accessible, high-quality beds in the catchment areas for all six care homes.”

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Investment manager Downing has acquired a portfolio of circa 4,200 solar PV residential installations across England and Wales. The portfolio was acquired from Foresight for about £26M.

The renewable energy and infrastructure arm of Downing Estate Planning Service has acquired 100% of the 13.8-megawatt portfolio, which is forecast to generate a total of 23.6 gigawatt-hours a year. This portfolio also benefits from 100% fixed revenues from feed-in tariffs.

Approximately 80% of the rooftop solar assets are located across the Midlands, Wales and the south-west, with the remaining 20% in the north of England and south-east. Downing’s internal infrastructure asset management team will be overseeing the operation and maintenance of the assets.

FINANCE

Breakthrough, a joint venture between global developer Tishman Speyer and biotechnology investment firm Bellco Capital, is set to move forward on the Vitrum project in Cambridge after securing a £104M construction loan from BGO, as well as receiving planning permission, entitlements and approvals. 

Breakthrough said it is transforming the 1.8-acre site into a flexible laboratory environment. Working with architectural studio Henning Larsen, the five-storey, 175K SF building is due for completion in 2026.

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Patrizia’s dedicated impact investing strategy, Patrizia Sustainable Communities, said that it has committed a significant share of its capital to social and affordable housing projects in Europe.

A €500M pan-European social and affordable housing portfolio, Patrizia Sustainable Communities has secured equity commitments from 10 institutional investors, with Danish pension funds AP Pension and PKA as cornerstone investors.

Within this strategy, Patrizia aims to house more than 7,500 individuals in social and affordable accommodation, develop 100% net-zero buildings in operation, and invest in over 25 European cities to tackle loneliness.

It commenced its investment programme with four major developments, two in Dublin and two in Milton Keynes and Bishop’s Stortford, which combined will deliver around 1,000 affordable and social homes.

DEVELOPMENT

Developers have submitted updated plans for a new London skyscraper that would be the same height as The Shard. 1 Undershaft was granted approval in 2016, but its Singaporean developer, Perennial Group, and development manager, Stanhope, have revised plans for the scheme, which is planned for the site of the St. Helen’s building. 

Developers also want to erect an elevated podium garden, according to the new brief, along with opening several restaurants and multiple floors of office space. 

1 Undershaft is expected to be completed in 2029.

PEOPLE

Gensler has appointed four principals to its leadership team in the UK and Europe.

Diana Lee, Naomi Sakamoto, Juliette Morgan and Sarah Ekundayo joined Gensler’s leadership after Gensler hired 100 new employees in 2023 across its offices in London, Birmingham, Paris, Berlin and Munich.

Lee has become London’s cities studio leader, and Sakamoto will lead the technology practice area for the Europe region and a studio serving innovative clients in sciences, tech and creative industries. Juliette Morgan has become an ESG consultancy director and a global leader in Gensler’s climate action and sustainability practice. Sarah Ekundayo has become the regional marketing director for Europe.

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Real estate private equity firm Madison International Realty has hired Jenna Barry as portfolio and asset manager. Based in London with a focus on Madison’s European and UK property portfolio, Barry will report to the firm’s head of portfolio and asset management, Kim Adamek, who is based in New York.

Barry brings 13 years of asset management experience to Madison, having most recently spent four years as an associate director at Arax Properties, where she was integral to the asset management and business plan execution of a £1B property portfolio, primarily located in central London.