BentallGreenOak completes restructure of WELPUT to facilitate a new long-term strategy for the c£1bn Central London-based office fund

London (January 23, 2020) — BentallGreenOak today confirms that WELPUT, its Central London office fund, has completed a re-structure and modernisation, designed to facilitate the implementation of an ambitious long-term plan for the Fund. Created in 2001, WELPUT is one of London's only large, dedicated, unlisted office funds with a c£1bn portfolio of office assets across Central London, including 2 near-term development projects in Kings Cross and Victoria.

Ker Gilchrist, Managing Director at BGO said "We are delighted to have received strong support from WELPUT's investors for this restructure. The Fund is now focused on a long-term plan to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns to our investors by exploiting both the value-enhancing opportunities in the existing portfolio and investing into new assets, particularly in certain sub-markets where we see very compelling fundamentals and strong growth potential. Whilst the current portfolio has a low level of vacancy, there are a number of value-enhancing opportunities that we will be looking to exploit.

We have grown our team over the last year so that we are well resourced to deliver our pipeline projects at All Saints Street in Kings Cross and 105 Victoria Street, both submarkets that we feel very positive about. Over the course of 2019 we were able to restructure the House of Fraser lease at 105 Victoria Street to facilitate vacant position certainty and are now well advanced in our plans for what is a highly attractive island site in a strategic location in the Victoria market."

WELPUT holds its refurbishment and development assets alongside a number of other properties including its newly completed scheme on St James's Street, where recent lettings have taken place, along with Warner Brothers European headquarters on Theobalds Road, the popular Farringdon Road Estate, and Stirling Square, also in St James's and home to Citi, British Aerospace and KKR.

Gilchrist continued, "Having completed the sale of Orion House in Covent Garden in December, following the completion of our business plan, WELPUT is now looking for new opportunities to complement its existing assets and development projects. The Fund's overall objectives have not changed, with a focus on creating best-in-class office space for London's diverse and dynamic occupier base to deliver attractive returns to our investors"

Toby Phelps of BentallGreenOak added "WELPUT is a core part of our European business and compliments our value-add and Core+ focussed pan-European funds. We are very grateful for the support shown by the Fund's investors for our long-term plans. It's a compelling time to be investing in the London market and we look forward to working with the current and new investors to build on WELPUT's legacy as a high-performing fund."

About BentallGreenOak

BentallGreenOak is a leading, global real estate investment management advisor and a globally recognized provider of real estate services. BentallGreenOak serves the interests of more than 750 institutional clients with approximately $48 billion USD of assets under management (as of September 30, 2019) and expertise in the asset management of office, retail, industrial and multi-residential property across the globe. BentallGreenOak has offices in 24 cities across twelve countries with deep, local knowledge, experience, and extensive networks in the regions where we invest and manage real estate assets on behalf of our clients. BentallGreenOak is a part of SLC Management, which is the institutional alternatives and traditional asset management business of Sun Life.

The assets under management shown above include real estate equity and mortgage investments managed by the BentallGreenOak group of companies and their affiliates.

For more information, please visit www.bentallgreenoak.com

Media Contact

Rahim Ladha
Vice President, Corporate Communications
BentallGreenOak
E: media@bentallgreenoak.com