Capco buys London estate

Capital & Counties (Capco), spun out of SA businessman Donald Gordon’s Liberty International in 2010, says it has £900m (R17bn) for new acquisitions and has already allocated some of it to spend on two new properties.

Capital & Counties (Capco), spun out of SA businessman Donald Gordon’s Liberty International in 2010, says it has £900m (R17bn) for new acquisitions and has already allocated some of it to spend on two new properties.

The company recently sold its stake in Earls Court for more than R8bn and is focusing on its iconic retail estate asset, Covent Garden, the first modern shopping square in London.

It is the main revenue contributor for Capco while Earls Court, which is being expanded to handle thousands more people, has been a laggard.

Capco CEO Ian Hawksworth said earlier in 2019 the assets needed to be housed separately because of the wide divergence in their performance.

Covent Garden has been performing well despite Brexit uncertainty, but the value of Earls Court has been eroded. At the end of June Covent Garden was valued at £2.6bn (R49bn), an increase of 0.5% compared with December 2018, supported by regular income growth and upward rental reversions.

Covent Garden spans about 112,000m² of lettable space in 79 buildings and 526 units.

The company said on Monday it has invested £50m to acquire two properties on the southern side of Covent Garden, including £34m for 5-6 Henrietta Street, a multi-let building. The building produces annual rental income of £1.2m across 1,328m², most of it restaurant space.

In November, Capco also acquired the freehold interest of Sussex Mansions for £17.8m, before purchasing costs.

The company’s share price lost 0.45% to R46.14 on Monday morning, paring its year-to-date gain to 8.95%.

R49bn The value of Covent Garden at the end of June 2019

8.95% The year-todate gain in Capco’s share price on the JSE