Good morning. Here’s your daily round-up of the latest news and views from EG and a collection of industry-relevant headlines from the nationals, all perfectly curated to set you up for the week ahead.
Blackstone-owned industrial and logistics owners Industrials REIT and St Modwen Logistics have formally combined their businesses to launch Indurent.
The move creates one of the UK’s largest owners of logistics properties, with a customer base of more than 2,000 businesses.
The newly integrated company, led by chief executive Julian Carey, has a portfolio comprising more than 27m sq ft of industrial and logistics space. This ranges from urban light industrial properties and last-mile delivery facilities to mid and big-box developments used for national distribution, production or manufacturing.
Carey said: “An undersupply of industrial and logistics space in key locations means we have an exciting opportunity to establish a truly national platform that will help businesses access the space they need.
“With Blackstone’s support, we are well placed to deploy capital where we see attractive acquisition opportunities and deliver on our ambitious development pipeline.”
Consolidating assets to create something bigger was also the driving force behind Basildon Council’s decision to spend a rumoured £21.5m on buying the Westgate Park shopping centre. The deal was signed off by the council’s cabinet late last week and is a “vital” land assembly move for its big town centre regeneration plans, said leader Gavin Callaghan.
The council has been planning a major redevelopment of the town centre for years and in 2020 put forward a number of plans for the Westgate site, including turning it into a 2,000-5,000-seat events centre.
In its strategy document, the council said Westgate’s location, away from the commercial heart of the town centre, made it a more secondary location for retail in the future.
Over in west London, there’s more of the same as the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation has bought a bus depot to unlock plans for more than 3,000 homes.
In Scotland, a reduction in big-ticket items for sale has seen Q2 transaction figures fall by 15% year-on-year and by more than 30% against the five-year average. According to Lismore Real Estate Advisors, just £272m of property was traded in the three months ended 30 June.
However, Lismore’s Chris Macfarlane is confident that momentum is returning with a reduction in buyer-seller stand-offs and the potential reduction in interest rates later this year.
According to CBRE, lending activity is set to increase too. And while this may be largely driven by the increasing need to refinance, the agent said it also expected development lending to increase.
All of the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals:
Blackstone officially merges warehouse giants to launch Indurent
London office lease lengths lessen
Basildon council splashes £20m on Westgate mall
OPDC buys bus depot for resi conversion
Lender activity to grow as refinancing drives demand
Sutton Bridge estate hits market with £55m asking price
Scottish commercial property sees Q2 transactions drop by 15%
COMMENT: Why social value matters in long-term regeneration
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves target green belt for new homes (£)
Foreign investors left stranded in Evergrande’s web of Chinese debt (£)
Middle aged and forever renting: developers’ new target market (£)
Wimbledon serves up luxury hospitality deal with le Gavroche revival (£)
Boots chief James quits after owner’s £5bn sale plan stalls
Cineworld leans towards CVA after screening bidders
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