British Land ups share buyback after selling 5 Broadgate

British Land extended its share buyback programme with an extra £200m to purchase its own shares in the current financial year after completing the £1bn sale of a City of London property.

The FTSE 100 real estate investment trust and joint venture partner GIC on Thursday confirmed they had sold 100% of 5 Broadgate to a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of CK Asset Holdings Limited for £1bn, which is in line with its 31 March 2018 valuation.

The sale, British Land said, reflects its strategy of realising value from completed and well-let properties, having completed the building in 2015 and generated a total property return of 18% per annum from tenant UBS.

Across the rest of the Broadgate site, the company 1 million sq ft of developments across the campus, and have continued to make good progress on our leasing, with more than 30% of the ERV now pre-let or under offer. A significant amount of the space being developed will be retail and leisure; following key lettings to Eataly and Everyman Cinemas, marketing of this space has just begun and already we are seeing strong interest from a range of operators.

Tim Roberts, Head of Offices, British Land, said: "This transaction is the latest example of how our strategy is creating value. We delivered a modern, truly distinctive building for UBS, located at the heart of our largest central London campus, adjacent to the forthcoming Crossrail station. We have now taken the opportunity to realise value and reallocate capital across a range of projects, and uses, to deliver the best value for our shareholders.

"We remain committed to Broadgate and are making excellent progress on our vision to develop and enhance the campus to create a truly world-class, mixed use central London destination. We are delighted to have found such a high profile and respected investor who shares our long-term plans for the campus."