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.
Aware Super has formed a partnership with Delancey Real Estate to invest up to an initial £1B in UK property.
The platform’s initial focus will be on central London office properties in prime locations, with the partners saying a slowdown in new office developments has created a scarcity of high-quality office space. The platform will also look at opportunities in “high-quality, undervalued UK retail,” logistics, and mixed-use properties.
Aware Super owns a 22% stake in build-to-rent specialist Get Living, which Delancey founded.
In addition to sourcing opportunities for the partnership with Delancey, Aware Super will continue to source other direct investments as it builds its European property portfolio.
Aware Super’s allocation to the platform will take its investment in the UK to more than £2B. It made a commitment to invest £5.25B in the UK and continental Europe over five years, after the opening of a London office in November 2023.
“Since opening our first international office in London we have been encouraged by the growing strength of the UK economy,” Aware Super Deputy Chief Investment Officer Damien Webb said in a statement. “By originating exciting deals across real estate, infrastructure and private equity we are building a balanced portfolio of resilient assets which we anticipate delivering strong returns for our 1.1 million members back in Australia.”
DEALS
Roadside Real Estate has created a joint venture with Meadow Partners to forward fund a portfolio of 12 Lidl sites for circa £70M.
The portfolio is spread across England and Scotland, with locations including Alexandria, Birmingham, Bovey Tracey, Bristol, Crediton, Downham Market, Hull, Manchester, Northampton, Reading, Redcar and Saffron Walden. Completion of the stores is expected between late October 2024 and February 2025.
“We have a strong pipeline of acquisitions and envisage reaching £150M of acquisitions in the first 12 months of the joint venture,” Roadside Real Estate Property Director Simon Jones said in a statement.
Savills advised on the creation of the JV.
***
Pan-European real estate investor Europa has completed the acquisition of a 342-unit, newly developed build-to-rent scheme, Granary Quay, in Glasgow from Dandara Group.
Located in Glasgow’s West End, Granary Quay, comprises a mix of studio, one- and two-bed apartments. It reached practical completion in May and is 69% occupied.
“This acquisition aligns with our focus on investing where we see an opportunity to stabilise and reduce the risk profile of an asset over the medium term and presents us with the prospect of delivering a strong and highly durable income stream over the coming years,” Europa Head of Investment Execution Ed Crockett said in a statement.
***
Alberta Investment Management Corporation and Ridgeback Group have acquired build-to-rent development Mitre Yard in north-west London from City & Docklands.
Mitre Yard is a newly completed residential development featuring 241 apartments along with more than 5K SF of commercial space. The management of Mitre Yard will be undertaken by Ila, Ridgeback’s in-house management platform.
The AIMCo-Ridgeback joint venture has a portfolio of more than 3,300 apartments across 11 assets with a gross development value of circa £1B.
LEASING
Kadans Science Partner has signed Curiox Biosystems, a life sciences technology company specialising in automated and standardised sample preparation for cell analysis, to its London Innovation Centre at 20 Water Street in Canary Wharf.
It is one of the first tenants at the site’s coworking lab and is establishing its first UK location at Canary Wharf.
Curiox joins Plasmidsaurus and Myricx Bio at the London Innovation Centre, which comprises 40K SF of laboratory space, with tenants having the option of renting a bench or taking their own office space.
PEOPLE
Real estate developer and operator Brookfield Properties has appointed Matt Hern as its next head of operations, succeeding Steven Cheshire, who will retire in 2025.
The appointment follows Hern's 11-year tenure at Brookfield Properties, during which he has worked on projects including Principal Place, London Wall Place, 99 Bishopsgate and Aldgate Tower.
In his new role, Hern will oversee the engineering, technical and property management of Brookfield Properties’ 5M SF London office portfolio.
***
Royal London Asset Management Property has appointed Will Edwards as portfolio fund manager for the £6B Royal London Property Pension Fund. The fund, part of Royal London’s Governed Range, is focused on “best-in-class real estate for the long term,” the company said.
Edwards has more than 20 years of experience and joins from Legal & General Asset Management, where he was head of emerging strategies and a senior fund manager.
