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 signed flexible workspace provider Industrious to occupy 71K SF at its Moorgate office investment at 131 Finsbury Pavement. 

Occupying a corner site overlooking Finsbury Square, the space extends across 10 floors. The former WeWork location is fully furnished, providing workspace solutions including hot desks, dedicated desks and private offices.

Industrious has over 200 locations in 65 cities across 10 countries, and 131 Finsbury Pavement will be the sixth and largest Industrious location in the UK. The company said it intends to retain some of WeWork’s former tenants and incorporate its own branding while upgrading the building.

“We are incredibly excited to open our latest Industrious at 131 Finsbury Pavement as we look to double down on London as a core part of our European network strategy,” Industrious Managing Director and Head of Europe Tom Redmayne said in a statement.

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Grosvenor is building a 300K SF flexible and fitted workspace portfolio by transforming circa 20% of its office properties across London and other major cities, the company said.

Grosvenor has opened 18 new flex office locations over the past year, taking its total portfolio to 135K SF across 20 sites. Alongside the business’s established operation in Eccleston Yards, 25EP, Grosvenor’s new locations in the capital include 128 and 162 Buckingham Palace Road and Fivefields in Victoria, as well as 50 Grosvenor Hill, 34 Brook Street and 35 Grosvenor Street in Mayfair.

In total, 11 new fitted suites capable of hosting up to 50 people have also opened in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol over the last 12 months. Grosvenor said it expects to add eight more flexible locations in London and two fitted spaces in Manchester over the remainder of 2024, expanding the portfolio by 46K SF.

INDUSTRIAL AND LOGISTICS

Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva, has acquired three industrial units in Hampshire, collectively called Trilogy Park.

Located in Segensworth Business Park and part of Concorde Way on the south coast of England, the three units provide more than 125K SF over 5.8 acres and are fully let. All three units are undergoing a refurbishment programme to upgrade their specification, including the addition of a mezzanine level to Unit 3 and the extension of office space, Aviva said.

“The acquisition of Trilogy Park shows our continued ability to make opportunistic purchases, and reflects our appetite for good quality, multi-let industrial assets with a reversionary income profile,” Aviva Investors Head of Real Estate Investment James Stevens said in a statement.

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Investec Real Estate has provided Hines’ European Value Fund 2 with financing to complete the acquisition of four multilet industrial estates in the West Midlands. Acquired from LondonMetric Property, the portfolio comprises 47 light industrial, trade and midbox warehouse units totalling 434K SF. Three of the estates are close to Birmingham city centre, while the fourth is in Rugby.

“This latest transaction reflects our long-standing strategy of backing best-in-class borrowers investing in asset classes with attractive growth prospects. We are increasingly financing schemes where a programme of capital expenditure aimed at enhancing sustainability credentials will be delivered,” Investec Real Estate Finance Manager Mike Russell said in a statement.

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Valor Real Estate Partners has acquired two multilet urban logistics assets in London for around £25M combined.

In Staines, west London, Valor has acquired two units totalling 42K SF that are fully let to two distribution businesses. In Merton, south-west London, Valor secured a 30K SF property comprising five units fully let to two light industrial tenants.

The properties total about 72K SF of lettable space and bring Valor’s UK portfolio to 54 assets across 5.2M SF.

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Industrial and warehouse space developer Segro and Berkeley Group company St. George have completed Segro V-Park Grand Union, a multistorey industrial development in Alperton, north-west London.

Segro V-Park Grand Union is a 135K SF, six-storey development situated on 1.7 acres and is part of the 22-acre Grand Union neighbourhood. The industrial development is equipped with cargo lifts. Two lower levels provide loading bay space and parking facilities, while four upper levels offer units in a variety of sizes.

Each customer will occupy a self-contained industrial unit with communal amenities including dedicated social and workspaces, breakout and bookable meeting rooms, and a roof terrace. 

St. George is transforming the wider former derelict brownfield industrial site into a mixed-use neighbourhood comprising 3,350 homes, 35% of which will be affordable. 

RESIDENTIAL

Warwick-based housebuilder HarperCrewe has received a “significant strategic” investment from TPG Angelo Gordon and The Ridgeback Group, which marks an expansion of the latter’s focus on the UK residential sector, the companies said.

The companies had previously acquired nine UK build-to-rent assets with an estimated gross development value of more than £800M.

HarperCrewe has amassed an initial land portfolio of over 3,000 plots since inception in 2022, and the company will use this latest investment from TPG Angelo Gordon and Ridgeback to grow its land bank and scale the delivery of homes, the company said.

HarperCrewe is targeting an eventual delivery of over 1,000 homes per annum. 

PEOPLE

Brightbay Real Estate Partners has appointed George Jerram as a director of asset management and promoted three members of its management team to director.

Jerram joined the company from Chancerygate, a property developer, investor and asset manager specialising in the UK’s urban logistics and industrial warehousing sectors. Brightbay also promoted Mary Hedges, Sarah Jones and Sarah Moon to director. 

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Global alternative asset manager ICG has appointed Greg Minson as global head of asset management in its real estate business. Based in London, he has joined ICG Real Estate’s leadership team and will provide global leadership across asset and fund management, debt capital markets, portfolio finance and operational functions.

Minson joins ICG from Goldman Sachs, where he was most recently global chief operating officer for the real estate group in the asset and wealth management division. 

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Convenience and community-focused shopping centre REIT Capital & Regional has appointed Gerry Murphy as a nonexecutive director, where he joins the Audit, Nominations and Remuneration committees.

Murphy will subsequently take over as Audit Committee chairman from Ian Krieger, effective from the company’s annual general meeting on 3 June.