British Land Co PLC on Thursday said it has completed a £301 million placing and subscription, which will be use toward the £441 million acquisition of seven retail parks it announced after the market-close on Wednesday.
The London-based commercial property developer and investor said it had acquired seven retail parks from Brookfield Corp and that the assets are 99% occupied, all benefitting from a major superstore anchor.
The new retail park assets have a passing rent of circa £29.5 million, a topped-up passing rent of about £31.9 million and an estimated rental value of around £30.4 million. They are located across the UK, ranging from Falkirk, Scotland, to Waterlooville near Portsmouth.
Retail parks now comprise 32% of British Land’s total portfolio, up from 22% 18 months ago.
To fund the acquisition, British Land on Thursday confirmed the placing, retail offer and subscription comprised of 71.2 million shares at 422 pence each has raised about £301 million in gross proceeds for the company. The new shares represent a 7.7% stake prior to the placing.
Shares in British Land were down 0.9% at 434.00 pence in London on Thursday afternoon.
The remaining value owed for the acquisition will be financed from existing cash and in place facilities.
Chief Executive Simon Carter said: ‘The acquisition of this high-quality portfolio builds upon our market-leading position in retail parks. Parks remain the preferred format for retailers and we have deployed £711 million of capital into this sub-sector since April 1. These assets offer an attractive yield and strong rental growth prospects in line with our guidance of 3-5%. Combined with the proposed placing, they will be immediately earnings accretive and are expected to deliver double digit ungeared internal rate of return.
‘The broader business also continues to trade well with a good level of leasing in the period and cost discipline underpinning our profit performance. We expect portfolio values to be marginally up for the half year, with continued [estimated rental value] growth across the portfolio.’
British Land also on Wednesday provided a trading update for the six months to September 30.
The company expects underlying interim profit between £142 million and £144 million, rising up to 1.4% from £142 million year-on-year. This is despite a number of properties entering development and the prior year surrender of 1 Triton Square, the company said.
It confirmed guidance for financial 2025 earnings per share of 27.9p, but said the proposed placing and acquisition announced on Wednesday will be accretive to earnings to share in financial 2025 and beyond.
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