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.
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the country's sovereign wealth fund, has bought a stake in famous department store Selfridges, including its property portfolio, which is valued at around £2.5B.
Thai department store chain Central Group announced a partnership with PIF, following PIF’s binding agreement for a total buyout of Signa Group’s interest in Selfridges Group.
Under the new partnership, Central Group will own a 60% stake in both Selfridges Group’s operating and property companies, while PIF will hold 40%. The deal includes new investment by Central and PIF for Selfridges Group, which owns and operates 18 luxury department stores in three countries: Selfridges in the UK, De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands, and Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland.
Signa and Central bought Selfridges for about £4B and secured £1.9B of debt against the company's property assets.
But last year Signa entered a major restructuring process due to the large amount of leverage it had taken out against its developments and department store assets. That restructuring has led to Saudi PIF taking over its ownership of Selfridges.
FINANCE
M&G Real Estate has completed £200M of refinancing deals in the retail warehousing and logistics sectors. M&G is providing a £50M construction loan at 72.5% loan to value to PineBridge Benson Elliot for the ongoing development of two prime logistics assets in Woodford and Enfield, north London.
Both sites have received planning consent for seven warehouse units, delivering 175K SF of speculative space, with practical completion expected within 18 months.
In a separate deal, M&G is providing Metrobox, an urban retail warehousing joint venture between Delancey and Tritax, with a 53% LTV loan of £150M to refinance its debt facility secured against four prime urban retail warehouses in Guildford, Crawley, Luton and Solihull.
Tenants include Next, B&Q, Halfords, Marks & Spencer, Argos, Sports Direct, Pets at Home and B&M.
DEALS
Harworth, a regenerator of land and property for sustainable development and investment, has completed the acquisition of Catalyst, a 285K SF, Grade-A urban logistics estate in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. The £43.7M purchase price reflects a net initial yield of 5.4%.
The asset was completed in 2023 and is adjacent to the group’s flagship industrial development and major UK manufacturing hub, the Advanced Manufacturing Park. The acquisition delivers an extension to the AMP.
Comprising five units, the scheme is 90% let to a range of occupiers with a weighted average unexpired lease term of 6.6 years to break and 10.1 years to expiry.
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Delancey Real Estate has sold Trafalgar Trading Estate in Enfield, north London, for £27.5M, reflecting a net initial yield of 3.73%. The sale is the latest divestment completed on behalf of Delancey’s client, a domestic pension fund.
Trafalgar Trading Estate comprises 11 units totalling more than 79K SF of industrial space, located in the Brimsdown Business Area of Enfield. The multilet industrial park was acquired by pan-European logistics investor Valor Real Estate Partners in an off-market transaction.
LEASING
The government of Ireland has taken just over 30K SF in The Crown Estate’s refurbished 10 Spring Gardens development, St James’s.
Set across part of the ground floor and the first, sixth, seventh and eighth floors, the new Ireland House in London will be between The Mall and Trafalgar Square, and 10 Spring Gardens will provide circa 80K SF of workspace in total overlooking a remodelled and landscaped piazza.
The refurbishment phase is underway with completion expected in 2025, and upon completion, the building will target a NABERS five-star rating, EPC A and BREEAM Excellent, as well as WELL Gold and WiredScore Gold certifications.
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Life Science REIT has confirmed that agriculture technology business Pro Cam UK has signed an agreement for more than 4,300 SF at Building 2030 in the Cambourne Park Science & Technology Campus. The lease becomes effective on completion of Pro Cam’s fit-out of its new space, which is expected in December.
Pro Cam, which is relocating from Building 2020, where it occupies 7,400 SF, has agreed to a five-year lease at an increased rent of £25 per SF, up 8.2% compared to its current rent of £23.10 per SF.
The space Pro Cam is vacating is on the second floor at Building 2020, where Life Science REIT is set to deliver four fully fitted labs in the fourth quarter.
PLANNING
A partnership between Shorea Capital and Native Land has unveiled its plans for SIRA at 188 City Road, an office retrofit scheme in Old Street, EC1.
Originally built as the head office for the Lipton Tea Company, the 42K SF building occupies a corner site next to Moorfields Eye Hospital and is targeting a BREEAM Excellent rating. Reuse of the building will see 70% of the existing structure retained or restored, the companies said.
The consented development, designed by Stiff + Trevillion, will feature all-electric building services, high-performance glazing and green roofs.
PEOPLE
Segro has appointed Rich Corbridge chief information officer. In a new leadership team role, Corbridge will oversee the delivery of the group’s digital and technology strategy, driving innovation and leveraging digital solutions to enhance operations.
With more than 25 years of experience in diverse CIO roles across public and private sectors, his most recent role was as director general for digital at the Department for Work and Pensions, responsible for technology and data across the department, including the technical capability in 850 job centres and the management of all payment systems and benefits systems, as well as daily analysis.
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Living real estate investment manager Apache Capital has appointed a general manager for Present Made of Eddington, the maiden development of Apache Capital’s single-family build-to-rent platform, Present Made.
Jack Hughes will oversee all aspects of the development’s operations once the scheme reaches full practical completion. Construction started earlier this year, with the first homes set to be ready for move-in in early 2025.
