MORNING NEWS: Investment manager looks east for downsized HQ

Good morning. Here’s your daily round-up of the latest news and views from EG and a collection of industry-relevant headlines from the nationals. Investment manager Invesco is close to securing a deal that will see it shift its headquarters from the West End to the City, EG can reveal. The firm is currently based at Portman Square, W1, but is close to signing for around 40,000 sq ft at LaSalle’s Sixty development at 60 London Wall, EC2. The move would mark a downsize in the company’s London office space. Rethinking its real estate in London comes as part of a group-level strategy. Allison Dukes, chief financial officer, said on an earnings call in January: “We are looking at our margins at a granular level on where we can really unlock some costs and evaluate some of what has been done in the past and perhaps where it doesn’t need to be done that way in the future. We have been on a multiyear effort as it relates to facilities and rationalisation of office space.” Also breaking from the team at EG – and an ICYMI from Friday evening – was the amount of investment British Land had to write off on its sale of the 400,000 sq ft Royal Victoria shopping centre to Tunbridge Wells Borough Council last year. While the deal was announced in October, a number of NDAs meant the sale price was kept confidential. However, EG was able to reveal that the council paid just £8.1m for the mall, some 91% less than BL paid Hermes for the shopping centre in 2018. All in, with refurbishment costs and money spent on drawing up redevelopment plans, the REIT lost more than £100m on the asset. Sticking with good deals for local authorities, Blackpool, Blackburn with Darwen, Sheffield and Liverpool have been given some £200m-plus of fresh levelling up funding. Blackpool took the biggest slug of cash, some £90m to build new homes and bring existing properties up to standard. Elsewhere, Blackstone announced that it had met all £759m of repurchase requests in February. The fulfilment of redemptions comes after 15 months of capping withdrawal requests and Custodian Property REIT has again urged shareholders of Abrdn Property Income Trust to back its takeover offer instead of rival Urban Logistics REIT’s. Custodian said Urban Logistics’ offer “introduces several material execution risks” and that its “near-term refinancing requirements present a clear risk to earnings and dividend growth”. And, if you believe the workspace you work in its the best in the UK, then you better make sure you are eligible to make it onto the the EG Power Properties List, a unique ranking of the best spaces to work in that EG is developing with real estate experience platform HqO. Find out more here. All of the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals: Custodian urges API shareholders to back mergerInvesco nears new London office dealBlackstone real estate trust meets all monthly redemption requestsEG launches search for UK’s best workspacesNorthern cities share £208m of fresh levelling up cashCOMMENT: Sustainable buildings require commitment to sustainable useREVEALED: BL shoulders £100m-plus loss on Kent mall saleBlackstone boss Steve Schwarzman made honorary knight (£) From billionaire to bankrupt: Bob Bull vows to make a comeback (£)How the billionaire Issa brothers’ ambitions for fast food chain Leon came unstuck (£)The Body Shop administrators investigate claims of missing millions (£)Tories wrestle with failure to fix Britain’s housing crisis (£) Siemens unveils plans for £100m state-of-the-art facility in Wiltshire (£)Fewer than 20% of levelling up projects completed in England