Singapore backs UK as country ploughs £700m into London properties

Singapore has ploughed nearly £700m into London properties in a vote of confidence in the capital.

The country’s sovereign wealth fund GIC has purchased a 75pc stake in the Paddington Central development from British Land for £694m.

The deal will see the FTSE 100-listed property developer enter a joint venture with GIC.

British Land bought the mixed-used Paddington Central campus for £470m in 2013. It has predominantly office spaces as well as some retail and leisure properties, housing companies such as Microsoft, Visa and Prudential.

The property developer added that two properties within the campus, The Novotel at 3 Kingdom Street and the development site at 5 Kingdom Street, are not currently part of the joint venture.

British Land, which traces its history back to the 1850s, owns a vast portfolio of properties that includes swathes of the City of London, the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield and campuses in mixed-use areas that have offices, retail, leisure and outdoor spaces.

Chief executive Simon Carter said: ‘Paddington has been an excellent investment for British Land and this transaction is a great illustration of our strategy in action.’

Last month British Land pressed ahead with plans to deliver an urban centre for London at Canada Water. It sold 50pc of its shares in the Canada Water Masterplan to pension fund AustralianSuper for £290m.

British Land and AustralianSuper, which has more than £140bn in member assets under management, formed a 50:50 joint venture to embark upon what they described as ‘one of the largest and most sustainable London regeneration projects in history’.

British Land shares fell 1.9pc.