British Land Co PLC

Regulatory Filings • Oct 17, 2013

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RNS Number : 6985Q

British Land Co PLC

17 October 2013

17 October 2013

British Land Sells its Stake in Puerto Venecia, Zaragoza, Spain for €144.5 million

British Land announces it has sold its 50% interest in Puerto Venecia Shopping Centre and Retail Park in Zaragoza, Spain, to Orion European Real Estate III C.V. (a fund managed by Orion Capital Managers) for €144.5 million (BL share).  The asset was previously owned in a joint venture partnership with them.

Puerto Venecia comprises a 890,000 sq ft (82,600 sq m) retail park which opened in 2008 and a 1.4 million sq ft (130,000 sq m) fashion and leisure phase which opened in October 2012.

Charles Maudsley, Head of Retail for British Land, said: "I am pleased with the sale of Puerto Venecia which is in line with valuation.  We have worked well with Orion to successfully complete and let the scheme and the disposal is in line with our strategy of exiting our European business and halves our European exposure to 1%."

ENDS

Enquiries:

British Land

Investor Relations

Sally Jones, British Land                                    020 7467 2942

Media

Jackie Whitaker, British Land                              020 7467 3449

Emma Hammond, FTI Consulting                        020 7269 9347

Pip Wood, British Land                                       020 7467 2942

Gordon Simpson, Finsbury Group                        020 7251 3801

Orion Capital Managers

Media

Richard Aylwin, Aylwin Communications              020 7832 6450

Notes to Editors

About British Land

British Land is one of Europe's largest Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) with total assets, owned or managed, of £16.9 billion (British Land share £11.0 billion), as valued at 31 March 2013 but adjusted for recent acquisitions and disposals, notably a major interest in Paddington Central.

Through our property and finance expertise we attract experienced partners to create properties and environments which are home to over 1,000 different organisations and receive over 300 million visits each year. Our property portfolio is focused on prime retail locations and London offices which attract high quality occupiers committed to long leases. Following our purchase of Paddington Central, our occupancy rate is 96.2% and average lease length to first break is 10.6 years.

Retail assets account for 58% of our portfolio, around 80% of which are located at prime out of town sites. Comprising around 28 million sq ft of retail space across 79 retail parks, 89 superstores, 17 shopping centres and 13 department stores, the retail portfolio is modern, flexible and adaptable to a wide range of formats. Our active asset management delivers space which is attractive and meets the needs of both retailers and consumers.

London offices, located in the City and West End, comprise 38% of the portfolio (which will rise to an estimated 40% on completion of current developments). Our 7 million sq ft of high quality office space includes Broadgate, the premier City office campus (50% share) and Regent's Place and Paddington Central in the West End. Since 2010, we have committed £1.2 billion to deliver 2.3 million sq ft of high quality space in London by 2014, including a 700,000 sq ft building at 5 Broadgate, the 610,000 sq ft Leadenhall Building in London's insurance district and a 500,000 sq ft mixed office and residential scheme at Regent's Place in the West End.

Our size and substance demands a responsible approach to business and we focus on five areas which matter most to us and our key stakeholders: managing buildings efficiently; developing sustainable buildings; enhancing biodiversity; exceeding customers' expectations and focusing on local communities. We believe leadership on issues such as sustainability helps drive our performance and is core to our corporate vision of building the best REIT in Europe.

Further details can be found on the British Land website at www.britishland.com.

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