Industry titans are going head-to-head in the Company of the Year awards. Who will be crowned champion next month?
British Land – 2013 winner – Company of the Year
British Land is back to claim the title of Company of the Year. Its London portfolio now includes a majority stake in Paddington Central, an area set to flourish when Crossrail is completed. Its 2010 development programme has been delivered on schedule and is now 78% let or under offer, delivering £608m of profit with a further £45m expected.
But the REIT faces stiff competition. With £1bn of capital activity over the past year, The Crown Estate delivered a total return of 21% against the IPD March universe of 13.4%, exceeding the national REITs and most London specialists. A new partnership with Canadian investor Oxford Properties has seen work start on its ambitious £450m St James’s Market scheme, W1.
Land Securities is also in the running, after completing its largest single asset transaction – a 30% stake in the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent and 110 acres of surrounding land. And it has delivered, with partner Canary Wharf Group, the Walkie Talkie at 20 Fenchurch Street, EC3. It welcomed its first tenants in May.
Rounding off the shortlist is Muse Developments, which has seen strategic public partnerships pay off. With £26m of its own money, £17.5m from RBS and £19.9m from the Homes & Communities Agency, the company has seen a difficult scheme get off the ground at Lewisham Gateway.
2014 SHORTLIST
British Land
The Crown Estate
Land Securities
Muse Developments
What the sponsor says
Savills is delighted to be sponsoring this category. In a rapidly accelerating industry, this award will crown the property firm which has capitalised on the opportunities within the market and demonstrated excellence across the board.
Mark Ridley, chief executive, Savills
Prologis – 2013 winner – Company of the Year, Industrial and Distribution
After last year’s triumph, Prologis is back. The company has built a UK development pipeline of more than 3.5m sq ft in prime markets across the Midlands, London and the South East over the past year and in September 2013 beat stiff competition to win a deal with Sainsbury’s for a 1m sq ft rail-linked distribution centre at Prologis RFI DIRFT II in Northampton.
IDI Gazeley, now owned by Brookfield, also makes a strong case for the trophy. One of the biggest prelets of the year saw Waitrose take 938,000 sq ft at Magna Park, Milton Keynes, for a new distribution centre, on a 30-year lease. The warehouse was subsequently sold to L&G for £110m – a yield of 4.7%.
Equally impressive is SEGRO. A €1bn (£794m) logistics joint venture of SEGRO European Logistics Partnership with Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board gave the company further leverage in the continental European market. SEGRO also signed a deal with Equinix for a 196,979 sq ft data centre in Slough, Berkshire, let on a ground lease of 30 years.
Verdion, too, is a formidable contender. The former Helios Europe entered into an exclusive partnership with Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan for the funding and development of European logistics parks. In the UK, it has led the iPort scheme, a £400m strategic fail freight interchange near Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
2014 SHORTLIST
IDI Gazeley
Prologis UK
SEGRO
Verdion
What the sponsor says
Burbage Realty is delighted to sponsor this award. The UK logistics sector is very much in the spotlight with significant global investment focus resulting from the dynamics of increased demand and sustainable rental growth. There will be fundamental changes to accept and embrace moving forward – and it is supply chain detail that will be key.
John Burbage, Burbage Realty
The 2014 EG Awards will be held on Thursday 11 December at the London Hilton on Park Lane. The sold-out event will celebrate the best performers and biggest achievements in property in the past year. for details visit the EG Awards website. #EGAwards2014
