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.
Segro has formed a £1B 50-50 joint venture with Pure DC, a global data centre operator, to develop and deliver a fully fitted data centre in Park Royal, west London.
It will combine a 10-acre industrial site owned by Segro and 70 megavolt-amperes of power secured by Pure DC to develop a circa 323K SF, fully fitted, three-storey, 56-megawatt data centre on the edge of Segro Park Premier Road, which Segro acquired in 2009.
The gross capital investment is anticipated to be approximately £1B and is projected to deliver an unlevered net yield on cost of 9% to 10%. In addition to contributing land, Segro’s estimated cash equity contribution to the joint venture is expected to be around £150M over the total construction period. Construction of the shell is expected to start in 2026, with the fully fitted space available for customer use from 2029, the joint venture said.
“Building on our 20 years of experience in the powered shell data centre market, we have been exploring how best to utilise our skills and 2.3GW land-enabled power bank to maximise the opportunity in this fast-growing sector,” Segro CEO David Sleath said in a statement.
DEALS
Great Portland Estates plc has acquired Cypress Dynasty, which owns the freehold interest in One Chapel Place, W1. The total cash consideration is based on a property valuation of £56M for the 34,200 SF building, which is fully let at an annual rent of circa £2.5M, with the office leases due to expire in mid-2028.
The building presents an opportunity for additional massing, with existing plans targeting an expansion to approximately 57K SF, and provides GPE with an “exciting opportunity to create a highly sustainable best-in-class HQ redevelopment,” the company said.
“Together with the recent purchases of The Courtyard, W1, Whittington House and 19/23 Wells Street, we have now invested £162M into West End acquisitions since our rights issue last summer, or £323M including the capex we intend to invest in the buildings,’’ GPE Senior Investment Manager Alexa Baden-Powell said in a statement.
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Valor Real Estate Partners has acquired, on behalf of its joint venture with QuadReal Property Group, a single-tenant light industrial unit in Silvertown. The 44,100 SF building is 100% let to Restore, a relocation, storage and records management company, with seven years remaining and a rent review due in 2027.
The transaction is the joint venture’s fourth since the start of the year, totalling more than €200M across the UK, France and the Netherlands.
FINANCE
Investec Bank has provided purpose-built student accommodation specialist Global Student Accommodation with an £86.5M refinancing loan secured against a portfolio of five stabilised PBSA assets in England.
The portfolio comprises 1,460 beds across London, Nottingham, Newcastle, Sheffield and Lincoln, and it is managed by GSA's global operating partner, Yugo.
The transaction is the second between Investec and GSA, and since 2011, Investec has delivered almost £1.2B in total PBSA lending, with the delivery of more than 22,000 beds across 62 schemes in 26 cities.
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Newly launched real estate lender Firma Partners has completed its second transaction, providing a £58.6M facility to Regal to refinance the mixed-use developer’s recently completed workspace in Watford.
Firma Partners’ investment loan will refinance Regal’s existing development finance facility now that the 140K SF The Clarendon Works 12-storey office building is nearly 80% let. Tenants include the national lottery operator Allwyn, which took 64K SF over six floors, and global tech business Epson UK, which signed up to 31K SF.
Flexible offices operator YoooServ will also provide 16,800 SF of flexible workspace on the ground and first floors.
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Fund manager Thriving Investments, part of Places for People Group, has secured an initial £30M of equity commitments from Greater Manchester Pension Fund, Better Society Capital and Places for People Group for its newly formed New Avenue Living Greater Manchester Housing Fund.
With the Greater Manchester Combined Authority providing an initial £10M loan, the fund has a mandate to deliver sustainable, affordable homes for rent in the Greater Manchester area, outside typical grant-funded or S106 stock. The homes will be let to essential workers at a discount, capped at a maximum rental level of 80% to open market rents.
Thriving Investments is targeting a £200M, 1,000-home portfolio over the next three years through a mix of forward funding and forward purchase structures. Touchstone Property Management, also part of PfP Group, will manage the completed homes.
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Warehouse REIT has completed a refinancing of its existing term loan and revolving credit facility totalling £300M, with the margin of 1.75% at 45 basis points below the previous margin, delivering cost savings of £1.2M, the company said.
The new facility comprises a £200M term loan and £100M revolving credit facility and replaces the company’s previous £320M facility with its existing club of lenders, HSBC, Bank of Ireland, NatWest and Santander.
DEVELOPMENT
British Land is to reposition Broadgate Tower, a 34-storey office building in its Broadgate campus in the City of London, at a cost of £100M.
The redevelopment will add a three-storey extension with a circa 6,200 SF terrace to the front of the building, as well as an amenity floor and end-of-trip facilities, including cycle storage and shower facilities. Tower floors will undergo refurbishment, and the project will also transform Broadgate Plaza to enhance biodiversity.
The scheme is expected to complete in late 2026, and the development will deliver a gross yield on cost above 8%. Royal BAM Group has been appointed to deliver the project, which will include construction of the new pavilion, enhanced public realm, a new reception and end-of-trip facilities, on-floor refurbishment and fit-out, as well as the installation of an air-source heat pump at a cost of £100M, of which British Land’s share is £50M.
PLANNING
British Land has secured planning approval to redevelop Euston Tower at its Regent’s Place campus in London’s Knowledge Quarter to deliver a new workspace. The 31-storey tower will comprise 19K SF floor plates, terraces and shared amenity spaces.
The plans also feature 4K SF of restaurant and café space, with terraces overlooking a revitalised public realm, as well as 8K SF of enterprise space for local entrepreneurs, startups and innovation.
Within the area, British Land has recently signed generative AI media company Synthesia for 20K SF at 20 Triton Street and is delivering over 300K SF of offices and labs at 1 Triton Square, in conjunction with Royal London Asset Management.
