The British Land Company came into existence in 1856 for the purpose of ensuring a smooth process of land buying for people, with ownership of land being needed for voting rights in the parliamentary elections.

The company has established itself as a Real Estate Investment Trust, with London as headquarters. It owns huge land holdings like those currently used by retail giants such as Sainsbury’s and Tesco and the Broadgate development building, situated at the heart of the commercial district, where they provide offices to let in London.

The company has been facing some tough times with commercial and residential rents going down for some time now. It sold off its properties worth £2 billion at various places to erase some of its debt. Earlier this year, Chris Grigg, chief executive of British Land, had informed that the markets were showing signs of stabilization but shopping centre rents continued their downward spiral.

With the news of commercial property as well as residential rents stabilizing, there is some speculation about a buy-out of British Land by the Abu Dhabi royal family and the Indian steel magnate, Lakshmi Mittal. The report also mentions that they have employed Credit Suisse to guide them through the takeover.

The shares of British Land saw a jump of 8 percent as a reaction to the report. Its price went above 500 having already seen a rise the previous month. Derwent London and Hammerson also reacted to the report as their shares went up by 49p and 10.2p respectively. The fact that huge money originating from the Middle East is not known to follow this route of takeover is however creating doubts in the analyst’s mind of the deal actually taking place.

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