MORNING NEWS: NewRiver makes £147m Capital & Regional takeover bid

Good morning. Here’s your daily round-up of the latest news and views from EG and a collection of real estate-relevant headlines from the national papers. NewRiver REIT has finally submitted a formal bid to take over Capital & Regional, four months and five deadlines extensions after it first mooted a deal. The company’s offer of 31.25p and 0.4 NewRiver shares for each Capital & Regional share values the target at £147m. A tie-up would create a shopping centre business with a £900m portfolio of community shopping centres and retail parks, generating annualised rent of around £90m. Paris is moving ahead of London on many economic metrics and is expected to continue doing so in the wake of the Olympic Games. Launching the London Property Alliance’s Global Cities Survey, LPA chief executive Charles Begley praised “the level of ambition and state intervention in driving public infrastructure and public realm investment in the city of Paris and this approach to Grand Projet”. He added, in light of London mayor Sadiq Khan’s plans to pedestrianise parts of Oxford Street: “It seems that the government here, in partnership with the mayor, has got that memo.” EG reports from the panel that debated what London could learn from across the Channel. Tim Heatley and his team at Capital & Centric are about to test themselves for the first time as masterplanners, with their work on a £3bn new-build town in Cambridgeshire. Homes England and Capital & Centric have signed an agreement to deliver a mixed-use neighbourhood in Northstowe, near Cambridge. The 30-year masterplan is expected to deliver 10,000 homes, half of which will be affordable, and a town centre with up to 538,195 sq ft of commercial floorspace, including shops, workspace and community facilities.  It’s a far cry from the work the company has traditionally been known for. “We did old buildings, and still do, because we were asked to and because we are good at it,” Heatley says. “We normally go and fix other towns and other building problems, but there is nothing to fix in Northstowe. It’s just an empty, clear site and we can start from scratch to build an entirely new town – one the like of which hasn’t been built in the UK for decades.” There’s also news on the outlook for office obsolescence; Reef and UBS’s latest Oxford scheme; and the next steps for TGI Fridays restaurants in the UK after the owner entered administration. All of the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals:NewRiver tables £147m takeover bid for C&REditor’s comment: Is it time for a Landsec/Hammerson merger?Capital & Centric’s £3bn blank canvas with Homes EnglandOlympic bounce to push Paris ahead of LondonA third of UK offices face obsolescence in next decadeNext sees savings from lease renewals lessenBGO raises €2bn for value-add fundGPE prices new £250m bondComment: There are big opportunities in office repositioningWorkman welcomes 42 graduates and apprenticesDandara gets the nod for 435-home Bristol BTR schemeTGI Fridays’ UK owner enters administrationRevenue up but profit down for housebuilder MJ GleesonGreenwich approves Fairview resi and industrial schemePrologis’ £200m Cambridge Biomedical Campus expansion approvedSmart buildings provider to record 2024 lossFashion retailer appoints Four & Co for UK expansionRetailers show confidence in Derbion centreMarket volatility hits Christie Group’s earningsGreenwich paves way for Maritime View’s 564-home schemeReef and UBS jv cleared for Oxford’s Hythe Bridge Street makeoverARC gets nod to bring forward duo of labs in OxfordAuriens secures £140m refinancing of London later-living schemeHines acquires Dublin PBSA schemeVandermolen Real Estate merges with Bantry FinanceSheffield’s Drakehouse Retail Park hits the market with £51m price tagEuropean real estate shows signs of recoveryIndustry grandees join New Towns TaskforceFinal piece in Sheffield’s Park Hill regeneration gets the go-aheadBruntwood SciTech signs renewable energy platform at Manchester’s BaseBank of England set to hold rates with bond sales in spotlight (£)Bosses forcing staff back to office are dinosaurs, says professor who coined ‘presenteeism’ (£)Civil servants threaten to boycott the office for an entire year (£)UK house prices rise for fifth month in July, ONS says (£)London’s mansions are struggling to sell (£)UK’s Asda says retail veteran Stuart Rose to lead business (£)