L&G

L&G and Bruntwood invest £360m in new property platform



Bruntwood and Legal & General Capital have established a 50:50 partnership to create a property platform dedicated to driving science and technology growth in regional cities.


The deal will see the pair invest £360m of capital, property and intellectual assets into Bruntwood SciTech, which plans to create 20,000 jobs.

Bruntwood SciTech plans to grow its assets from 1.3 million sq ft on day one to over 6.2 million sq ft over the next 10 years, increasing the value of the portfolio to £1.8bn.

The portfolio is already home to more than 500 science and technology businesses and is centred around assets and development projects in Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds, including the life science campus in Cheshire (pictured below).

L&G

With Legal & General’s long-term financial support, Bruntwood SciTech will initially focus on developing out its existing portfolio of assets, as well as expanding within the Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine regions, seeking to make the most of untapped potential in the UK’s science and technology sector.

The business will be chaired by Chris Oglesby, CEO at Bruntwood (pictured top, left), and Phil Kemp, CCO at Bruntwood, will be CEO.

The board will also feature John Cummings, managing director of urban regeneration and clean energy at Legal & General, and Rachel Dickie, director of regeneration at Legal & General.

Bruntwood’s commercial office portfolio – which it owns, develops and manages in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham – will continue to operate within its existing structure.

“Our focus is on creating thriving cities – breathing life into places where knowledge-based businesses can start and scale, driving growth for the UK economy,” said Chris.

“Bruntwood SciTech is aimed squarely at the many opportunities offered by the science and technology sector and with the backing of Legal & General, we can greatly accelerate the scale and pace of what we can achieve.”

Graham Barnes and Colin Thomasson of CBRE advised Bruntwood, alongside a team from Addleshaw Goddard.

Savills, EY and CMS represented Legal & General.

Nigel Wilson, chief executive at Legal & General (right), added: “Although the UK is a great place to do business, years of chronic underinvestment have led to poor productivity, inadequate real wage growth and muted economic growth.

“Science and technology will be key to revitalising the UK economy and driving job creation.

“We need to keep investing to support the development of our UK regional cities.”

 



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