Good morning.
The PM has vowed that Covid restrictions(£) will end on 19 July(£). Workers can return to their desks, pubs can serve at the bar and masks won’t be needed. But the PM will still wear one(£) in crowded places, and says you should too.
The announcement boosted the value of the hospitality sector by almost £400m(£).
Meanwhile, shares in WM Morrison rose to their highest level in seven-and-a-half years yesterday, as private equity firms weighed takeover bids.
Legal & General Investment Management(£) has demanded more details(£) about WM Morrison’s vast property estate. It fears private equity may be getting their hands on it too cheaply.
Ramsay Health Care(£) has agreed to buy UK hospital group Spire Healthcare in a sweetened £1.4bn deal.
Residential investment platform IMMO Capital has recruited Professor Andrew Baum as strategic advisor and investor, as it embarks on a €1.2bn expansion.
And the BPF wants young professionals to benefit from the wisdom of old sages, too. It has launched a new mentoring initiative – BPF Futures Launchpad – to connect less experienced real estate professionals with industry leaders.
After a whopping £1.7bn spent on UK hotels in the first half of the year, appetites are far from satisfied. Four in 10 hotel investors have plans to buy more hotels in Europe, with the UK topping the wishlist.
Knight Dragon has lodged detailed plans for 431 homes on the 1.4-acre southeast corner of its £8bn Greenwich Peninsula mega project.
And developer W.RE has secured a £55m loan from BentallGreenOak for the 110,000 sq ft redevelopment of the iconic Arding and Hobbs building in Clapham Junction, SE15.
The Bank of England(£) has told staff that they only need to come into the office once a week from September.
Meanwhile, The FT (£) says that Santander’s plan to move its HQ from central London to a former car park in Milton Keynes could be the sign of a growing trend.
Lords, the independent builders’ merchant is set to float(£) on the stock market valued at about £150m.
Meanwhile, the race is on to discover a holy grail of the construction industry – ‘green’ cement(£).
And finally, a coalition of 20 environmental groups(£) has written to Boris Johnson and Robert Jenrick, urging them to use the planning reforms to protect the environment. Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, CPRE, the RSPB and others have warned that the reforms as currently envisioned will cause more harm than good. But which Boris will they get? The one who supports his new wife Carrie in her efforts to rescue 13 elephants? Or the one who dismissed environmental concerns as “newt-counting delays” that hold up housebuilding?
