Oxford Properties has set its sights on launching an operating platform for its life sciences portfolio in the next two to four years, as part of its bid to become a major player in the sector.
The Canadian real estate investor has said this forms part of its efforts to create an “infrastructure as a service” offer for occupiers. Its ambition is to amass a portfolio that will accommodate life sciences firms throughout their growth period, from the early stages of the research and development through to product tests, manufacturing and getting the product to customers.
Abby Shapiro, senior vice president and head of office, retail and life sciences for Europe at Oxford Properties, told EG: “We’re starting first with the portfolio, and then we [will figure] out how to build that operational capability over time.”
The investor is seeking opportunities to expand in London and Cambridge as well as Oxford, where it has yet to do a first deal. Shapiro said the firm is considering opportunities within Oxford Science Park, but that it remains open to all options across the city.
“It’s not just about finding the right asset, it’s also about the competitive tension, the structure of the deal that’s going to be proposed and how does that align with our business model and setting up our platform in the future,” said Shapiro.
“We’ve got lots of relationships that we’ve continued to build out across [London, Cambridge and Paris] and that hopefully will continue to lead to a pipeline of opportunities.”
Oxford Properties entered the UK life sciences market a year ago with the acquisition of 310 Cambridge Science Park for £45m.
“We purposefully started with something smaller to dip our toe into that market,” said Shapiro. “Coming back to that wider context of building out a portfolio [of] scale in the locations that we’re in – so that we can enable our occupiers to rapidly grow, ideally within our portfolio. Having just a one-off asset in Cambridge is not going to be strategic for us. So we will continue to look to scale [up] there and in London.”
The 60,000 sq ft science park is entirely let to AstraZeneca, however, the pharma giant is planning to move out in November 2023 when the lease expires. Shapiro said the investor is “working through” its options at the moment, which could include redevelopment or seeking a new tenant.
In London, Oxford Properties acquired Victoria House, Holborn, WC1, at the start of the year, and most recently won a bid to deliver a site at Snowsfields Quarter, SE1.
Oxford Properties’ European life sciences portfolio has developed to C$2bn (£1.3bn) so far, with the company looking to get to a scale of C$3.5bn. About 60% of its investments are focused on the UK, with 40% dedicated to Paris, but Shapiro said the company will try and deploy “a bit more” on the UK side.
“I don’t think anyone really appreciates today how big the market opportunity will become over time,” added Shapiro. “So it’s very hard to say what scale you want to target to have the right economies of scale in Europe. We will continue to evolve our thinking on as the market continues to develop.”
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