7 January 2011

British Land sells Sainsbury's Superstore in Macclesfield for £36 million

British Land announces today that it has sold a Sainsbury's superstore in Macclesfield to Aviva Investors for their Lime Property Fund for £36 million, representing a net initial yield of 4.4%.

The 73,500 square foot superstore is leased to Sainsbury's for 28.5 years at a passing rent of £22.90 per square foot with annual RPI linked increases capped at 4% pa with a minimum increase of 2% pa.

Charles Maudsley, British Land's Head of Retail said, "We are delighted to have agreed the sale of Sainsbury's Macclesfield superstore at a value which reflects the significant yield compression in this sector over the last year. The store is the dominant food store in the town, has an affluent catchment area, and will provide Aviva Investors with a long-term, high quality secure and growing income stream."

Enquiries:

Investor Relations

Sally Jones, British Land                                020 7467 2942

Media 

Pip Wood, British Land                                   020 7467 2838

Gordon Simpson, Finsbury Group                  020 7251 3801

Guy Lamming, Finsbury Group

Notes to Editors

About British Land

British Land is one of the UK's largest Real Estate Investment Trusts with total assets, owned or under management, valued at £14.0 billion (British Land share £8.9 billion), as at 30 September 2010. Our property portfolio is focused on high quality destination retail locations and central London offices which we believe are well placed to benefit from growing customer demand. We have among the highest occupancy rates and lease lengths of the major UK REITs at 98% and 12.5 years respectively. 

Retail assets account for 65% of our portfolio, around 85% of which are located at prime out-of-town sites.  Our portfolio comprises over 26 million sq ft of retail space across 93 retail warehouse properties, 100 superstores, 10 shopping centres and 10 department stores. Our portfolio benefits from flexible planning consents making the portfolio adaptable to a wide range of formats. This allows us to actively manage our portfolio and deliver the most attractive space to both retailers and consumers.

Central London offices currently comprise 33% of the portfolio. Our portfolio comprises over 6 million of office space and includes a 50% share in Broadgate, the premier office campus in the City and Regent's Place, an office estate in the West End. During 2010, we committed to a significant development programme in central London which on the basis of current estimates of values at completion, increase the weighting of offices in the group's portfolio from 33% to 40%. These developments, which will deliver 2.2 million sq ft of high quality space in the City and West End by 2014, include: a new 700,000 sq ft building for UBS at Broadgate; the 610,000 sq ft Leadenhall Building in London's insurance district; a 158,000 sq ft scheme in Baker Street; and the 500,000 sq ft NEQ building, which will complete the Regent's Place estate in the West End. The aggregate development cost, including land and interest is expected to be £1.5 billion, of which British Land's share is £1.0 billion.

Further details can be found on the British Land website at www.britishland.com