Business
RE: Sales
RE: Sales.
About this update from Derwent London Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n Derwent London PLC\n13 July 2007\n\n\n13 July 2007\n\n\n\n Derwent London plc ('Derwent') announces £175 million of sales\n\n\n\nDerwent is pleased to announce the disposal of three non-core assets which were\nacquired through the merger with London Merchant Securities plc in February this\nyear. The sales total £175.0 million, before disposal costs, and achieved\n£91.8 million above the 31 January 2007 book value of £83.2 million. The\ntransactions are:\n\n\n\n• Disposal of Greenwich Reach, SE10. Completion has taken place\nto Roamquest Limited, part of Galliard Homes, for £111.8 million. This eight\nacre cleared site is on the South bank of the Thames, overlooking Canary Wharf.\n The site currently has planning consent for 980 residential apartments and\n71,155 sq ft of commercial/retail space.\n\n\n\n• Contracts have been exchanged on the disposal of 158-166\nBrompton Road, Knightsbridge, SW3 to a private purchaser for £45.0 million.\nThis property comprises retail, office and residential space, totalling 27,000\nsq ft and produces a short term income of £0.8 million per annum.\n\n\n\n• Contracts have been exchanged on the disposal of 3 & 4 South\nPlace, EC2 to the Frogmore Group for £18.2 million. Situated close to Broadgate\nin the City of London, the properties comprise two adjacent vacant office\nbuildings totalling approximately 36,000 sq ft.\n\n\n\nThese sales are the first since Derwent converted to REIT status on 1 July 2007.\nBoth South Place and Brompton Road are within the tax exempt REIT ringfence\nand will therefore not attract tax on their disposal. However, since the\nGreenwich property falls outside the REIT ringfence any capital gains arriving\nfrom its sale will be chargeable to tax.\n\n\nJohn Burns, Chief Executive of Derwent London commented:\n\n\n\n'We are delighted with the substantial premiums achieved which were accomplished\nso soon after our REIT conversion, at a level of 110% above book value. The sale\nof Knightsbridge and South Place enable the Group to achieve significant\nbenefits from the REIT status by disposing of two properties, which were not in\nour current development programme, in a tax efficient manner. The Greenwich sale\nis a non-core disposal as the Group continues to concentrate its efforts on\ncommercial development, where it considers its expertise are better ...