Prices and Markets

Ground Rents Income addresses negative media comment - Ground Rents Income Fund plc, a listed real estate investment trust (REIT) investing in UK ground rents, says that it has noted the recent attention in the media regarding ground rents and the launch by the Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid, of a consultation on proposals to amend leasehold legislation. The attention has been focused on leasehold houses, which account for 11% by income of the Company's portfolio, and, in particular, leaseholds with ground...

Greencoat UK Wind tops up stake in Clyde windfarm - Greencoat UK Wind PLC has entered into an agreement to make a further investment in Clyde Windfarm (Scotland) Limited, together with GLIL Corporate Holdings Limited, the infrastructure investment vehicle of certain local authority pension funds. As agreed at acquisition in March 2016, the Clyde Extension construction indemnity provided by, power company, SSE will fall away on the commercial operation date of the Clyde Extension (this is expected to occur in late...

Supermarket Income REIT buys a TESCO Extra - Supermarket Income REIT has acquired a Tesco Superstore in Thetford, Norfolk, from M&G Real Estate for GBP43.2 million, reflecting a net initial yield of 5.35% or 5.55% after the next agreed RPI-linked rent review in December 2017. The purchase has been funded out of the equity proceeds of the IPO, with senior debt finance expected to be introduced in the near term. The store comprises 78,000 sq ft (gross) on a 10.4-acre...

Land Securities pre-lets 21 Moorfields to Deutsche Bank - Land Securities and Deutsche Bank have exchanged a pre-let agreement for the bank's new London headquarters at 21 Moorfields, EC2 on a 25 year lease.  The agreement is conditional on planning permission. Landsec has worked closely with Deutsche Bank on the design of a 564,000 sq ft building. The bank will retain flexibility over the amount of space it will occupy in the new building and has committed to take a...

LXi REIT fully invested looks to gear up - The Board of LXi REIT has announced that the company has now fully deployed the net proceeds of its GBP138 million IPO since listing on 27 February 2017. They are also in solicitors' hands on additional acquisitions which will fully absorb the GBP55 million debt finance to be drawn under its Scottish Widows 12-year loan facility in the coming weeks. The headline statistics for the acquired assets are: Attractive average net initial...

Oakley Capital Investments Inspired wins backing from TA Associates - Inspired, a leading group of premium schools in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Australia and a portfolio company of Oakley Funds, has received a significant strategic growth investment from TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm, comprising both primary and secondary investment. OCL first invested in Inspired through Oakley Capital Private Equity L.P.'s ("Fund I") investment in Educas in July 2013. As Fund I is reaching the end...

Marwyn investment Zegona sells Telecable - Directors of Marwyn Value Investors Limited welcome the announcement made yesterday by its investee company, Zegona Communications plc ("Zegona") confirming the completion of the sale of Zegona's Spanish cable business, Telecable to Euskaltel, S.A. The transaction has generated significant upfront cash proceeds and Zegona intends promptly to return up to £140m to shareholders, representing 71p per share (44% of Zegona’s market capitalisation). It plans to return capital through a tender offer conducted by an intermediary. Full...

QuotedData is publishing a new Fidelity Closed-End Funds review. This covers funds in the Asia-Pacific ex-japan, Japanese Smaller Companies and UK All Companies sectors. Welcome to the fourth edition of QuotedData’s Fidelity Closed-End Funds Review – a regular publication looking at Fidelity and recent developments in three of its investment trusts – Fidelity Asian Values, Fidelity Japanese Values and Fidelity Special Values. In this issue: It is now over two years since Nitin Bajaj was appointed as manager of Fidelity Asian Values...

Land Securities has announced that it has exchanged contracts to sell its 50% stake of 20 Fenchurch Street, EC3M (the walkie talkie building) for £641.3 million and proposes to return £475 million to shareholders. The purchaser is LKK Health Products Group who will also acquire Canary Wharf Group's 50% stake in the building, bringing the total headline price to £1,282.5 million, reflecting a net initial yield to the purchaser of 3.4%. Completion is expected to take place at the end...