LGP completes £1.7 bn of commercial real estate transactions

Deals ranged in size from circa £3 million to over £300 million, the largest being the acquisition of the Rolls Building on Fetter Lane from Delancey for a total consideration of £305 million.

They also included the company's debut investment into the student accommodation sector, with the purchase of a 45-year income strip in Imperial College's new 566-bed Battersea development, Griffon Studios, which it acquired for circa £116 million, as well as the new Academy for English Football in Burton upon Trent, which is due to complete in June in time for the Olympics.

In December alone, LGP completed over £655 million of transactions, the last of which was completed on the 23rd and comprised the acquisition of 1 City Place in Gatwick from RREEF for £39 million.

The asset was subsequently let to Nestle. It also disposed of Brighton Retail Park in East Sussex to a client of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership for £17.75 million, following a major letting secured to M&S and the completion of a number of green initiatives.

 As reflected by a number of other major transactions completed throughout the year, this sale demonstrated LGP's strong active asset management platform and ability to successfully recycle capital within its portfolio in order to reinvest in new stock and upcoming market opportunities whilst realising profits.

Over the course of 2011, LGP raised a total of £1.4 billion of new equity which included capital secured from a number of new sources, including major international institutional investors based in the Middle East, Asia and Scandinavia.

In order to continue to invest capital in the market wisely and prudently, LGP has significantly grown its transactional and development capabilities over the last few years through a number of strategic hires, including that of Adam Kerr, who joined in November as Head of Transactions, in order to enhance its access to off-market deals and extend its project pipeline.

Headed by Gordon Aitchison, who was recently promoted to Director of Investment and Development, these two strengths have now been brought closer together under one house, in order to identify a whole new range of opportunities where the unrivalled market reach, knowledge and expertise of LGP's wider platform can better support each fund's strategic goals.

Gordon Aitchison, Director of Investment and Development, commented:

"With considerable fire power at our disposal, we feel that we are well placed to continue to capitalise on opportunities in the UK market as they unfold in 2012.

"With strong expectations of forced deleveraging, failed refinances and banks required to raise capital, we believe that this year will not only present some attractive investments but that there will also continue to be more interesting opportunities where we can use the depth and breadth of our platform to unlock potential."