Royal Mail: investors eye £500m property windfall

[britwrit]

From The Telegraph:

Investors who buy shares in Royal Mail when it is privatised next week could benefit from a huge windfall from the sale of a disused sorting office in central London.

The 13-acre site of the former Nine Elms mail centre is expected to be sold for redevelopment. The proceeds, which could reach £500m, according to one fund manager, compare with a £2.6bn valuation for the entire company if the shares are priced at the bottom end of the range announced last week.

However, fund managers expressed caution because of fears that any windfall could be used to plug a shortfall in Royal Mail's pension scheme rather than returned to shareholders or used to invest in the company. Although the pension scheme has been transferred to the Government, City investors want reassurance that it would have no claim on the proceeds of property sales.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/pers ... dfall.html

[Phantom]

Here we go...£500m to reinvest or give to shareholders??? nah f**k it, give it to the shareholders, thats all thats gonna matter now!!! - f***ing shambles

[bogstandard]

didn't the firm announce how much in dividends they would be paying out, somewhere in the region of £140m. The £500m is Moya's bonus forbeing so honest and paying back her moving costs.

[meweavy]

The vultures are circling.
They will strip this company bare once they get the green light to buy up the shares.

[taxi4leighton]

how much would mount pleasant be worth on the open market?. i visit that part of london often,and im struck by size of land it occupies and the need for housing there

[baldrick]

how much would mount pleasant be worth on the open market?. i visit that part of london often,and im struck by size of land it occupies and the need for housing there

There are already plans to sell off most of the lorry parking and all the car parking space around Mount Pleasant, and plans have been drawn up for 530 flats to be built on the land over the next 7 years. Building is due to start next year.

A new asset stripping privatised company may well also sell off the actual buildings too.

[taxi4leighton]

yes.at £3 billion.RM is a steal,asset-strippers dream

[britwrit]

how much would mount pleasant be worth on the open market?. i visit that part of london often,and im struck by size of land it occupies and the need for housing there

There are already plans to sell off most of the lorry parking and all the car parking space around Mount Pleasant, and plans have been drawn up for 530 flats to be built on the land over the next 7 years. Building is due to start next year.

A new asset stripping privatised company may well also sell off the actual buildings too.

I'm sure it's worth truckloads and truckloads of money but probably not as much as they think. It's a pretty dumpy area and if you've got the money for these types of apartments, there are plenty of nicer places to buy in London. Plus, if you're ultra-loaded, do you want to overlook a sorting office?

[baldrick]

The property owners opposite Mount Pleasant in Farringdon Road have complained for years about the 24 hour noise from lorries. But there has been a sorting office there for over 100 years, before they bought their properties. If the mc was to go their properties would probably double in value. While the area might have been 'dumpy' 20 years ago, it has improved, and the big houses just off the Farringdon Road sell for over £1m, they are in trendy Islington.
The council had an exhibition earlier this year to show the plans they have for the redevelopment which I went to. It did look quite good, though there is no school included which had been a problem for developers previously. There is a shortage of schools in the area and the council had demanded that any developer should include a primary school. Looks like this has now been dropped.
I think the selling off the lorry parks will cause problems. The plans showed underground platforms covered by a grassed park area, and lorries would presumably go in one way, unload or load, and come out again. But drivers at present often have to park up to wait to be unloaded/loaded, or to have their rest/meal breaks. I can foresee a queue of lorries down the Farringdon Road and more complaints from local residents.

[britwrit]

I admit I'm biased. I worked at the mail centre for a few years (left in 2011) and that long grim trudge up from the tube station every day didn't scream posh or hip. And Mount Pleasant has to be one of the most ironic names I've ever come across. But still, who knows. Gentrification might work its magic.

[baldrick]

Mount Pleasant is an ironic name. It was given to big rubbish tips in the 17th Century, and this was the site of one. The route up from Farringdon Underground is a bit grim, but if you go up the side roads off Farringdon Road opposite the mc, there are nice squares and big houses worth millions. Wish I'd bought something round there when I started at MP in 1981.
I don't think a developer will have any problems selling flats in the proposed redevelopment.

[Lounge Lizard]

Mount Pleasant is an ironic name. It was given to big rubbish tips in the 17th Century, and this was the site of one. The route up from Farringdon Underground is a bit grim, but if you go up the side roads off Farringdon Road opposite the mc, there are nice squares and big houses worth millions. Wish I'd bought something round there when I started at MP in 1981.
I don't think a developer will have any problems selling flats in the proposed redevelopment.

It's quite a trek from any of the surrounding underground stations But the Pakenham Arms is alright, and the Calthorpe, not so keen on the Apple Tree and the penny Black's long gone.

[UnhappyGremlin]

Well, I am truly shocked.