The Battersea Power Station project in the UK is a commercial success, and the site was acquired through a competitive bidding process, according to SP Setia and Sime Darby Property.
Both developers said this in a joint statement in response to Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s (PKR) de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s statement that Battersea will be among the projects to be reviewed by the new administration.
Originally, Malaysia’s SP Setia, Sime Darby Property and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) acquired the 42-acre Battersea Power Station site for £400 million (approx. RM2 billion) in June 2012. The first two companies each holds a 40 percent stake in the project, while EPF owns 20 percent.
Both firms revealed that the funding for the development was derived from a combination of equity from stockholders and loans from a group of nine local and global banks.
Of this, the £458 million development loan for Phase 1 has been fully repaid ahead of schedule, with the initial invested capital and profits from the completed first stage being reinvested into the subsequent phases.
Notably, over 99 percent of the 865 units in Phase 1 or Circus West Village have been “profitably sold” and currently more than 1,000 people and various businesses reside there.
“Work on the Power Station building itself (Phase 2) is progressing well and is scheduled to open to the public in late 2020. Its 1.8 million sq ft of space will include 500,000 sq ft of offices which have been pre-let to Apple in one of London’s largest ever office leasing deals.”
“The Power Station will house 120 shops and restaurants, event space and visitor attractions, creating a new town centre for London. In addition, there will be 253 residential apartments (currently 90 percent sold),” they added.
In January 2018, SP Setia and Sime Darby Property is considering to transfer ownership of the commercial properties in the Grade II listed building (excluding the 42-acre site) to Permodalan Nasional and the EPF that values the building at £1.61 billion (RM8.8 billion).
“Currently PNB and the EPF together own directly and indirectly about 67 percent of the equity in the Battersea Power Station development.”
“PNB and the EPF view this as a strategic opportunity to secure ownership of a unique and iconic real estate asset which will be able to deliver sustainable income streams into the future to meet their respective income needs. The transaction is expected to generate an attractive long term yield for the investors,” they added.
Image sourced from Wikipedia
This article was edited by the editorial team of PropertyGuru. To contact them about this or other stories email editorialteam@propertyguru.com.my
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