Good morning, and welcome to your round-up of what’s making the headlines on EG and in the papers at the start of the week.
A showdown is set for Hammerson’s AGM next month, after shareholders lined up to back the company in the face of criticism from Lighthouse Properties, which wants a boardroom shake-up. Hammerson has called the proposals from its largest investor “unnecessary, distracting and value destructive”.
Also pushing back against a disgruntled shareholder is IRES, which faces pressure from Vision Capital to put itself up for sale.
Famed developer Sir Stuart Lipton has criticised a lack of imagination in London’s “outdated” real estate industry. Lipton described the capital’s Oxford Street as “slumsville”, pushed back against the government’s net zero requirements for buildings (“An EPC has become like owning the latest piece of fashion”) and said poor-quality offices are encouraging people to work remotely.
Patron Capital’s five-a-side football chain Powerleague is looking for new sites – and a new owner. As its private equity owner puts the business up for sale for £60m, it is also hunting for unwanted car parks, retail sites and other properties it can turn into new clubs and pitches.
Research from the Resolution Foundation has found that one in 10 people across the UK live in poor quality housing, affecting their physical and mental health, with a large proportion in London.
Staying with housing in the capital, estate agency Hamptons says London rents have risen by a fifth over the past year and warns that a shortage of rental properties is likely to worsen as buy-to-let landlords sell up.
The Welsh government is stuck with houses it bought via compulsory purchase orders valued at £22m after scrapping plans for a relief road by the Severn Bridge.
There’s also news of hires at M&G and student accommodation developer Your Tribe, and TCS taking control of its Manchester BTR venture.
And if you missed it yesterday, here’s this week’s episode of EG Like Sunday Morning. Still perfect for a Monday morning listen.
To send feedback, e-mail tim.burke@eg.co.uk or tweet @_tim_burke or @EGPropertyNews
